


When Shit Hits the Fan

by theHunter_and_theNinja



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Birth complications, Bottom Paul, Childbirth, M/M, Minor Character Death, Missions Gone Wrong, Parent Daryl Dixon, Parent Paul Rovia, Top Daryl Dixon, Unexpected Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-05-09 19:27:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14722167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theHunter_and_theNinja/pseuds/theHunter_and_theNinja
Summary: Paul promised to be at Maggie’s side when she went into labor, so when the flu comes to Hilltop and Maggie goes into labor at the same time, Daryl and Paul are forced to separate. While Paul stays with Maggie, Daryl takes a team to go to a nearby veterinary hospital and everything goes to hell faster than Daryl can handle.





	1. Unexpected Obstacles

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, I’m back with a new piece that I’ve been wanting to do for while. The next chapter should be up within a week, hopefully.

“Oh fuck, Daryl!” Paul shouted as his boyfriend pounded his cock deep into his ass, nailing his prostate each time. Sweat dripped down Paul’s forehead and onto the bed beneath him. They’d just gotten back from run that morning on which they’d had a very close call with a walker that had fallen out of a closet and tackled Daryl to the ground. Paul nearly had a heart attack, but was able to move quickly enough to kill the walker before it could take a bite out of Daryl’s neck.

A year into their relationship and this is how they usually dealt with close calls, arguing about being more careful on the way home and then fucking each other in a rough doggy style position until they couldn’t walk. A particularly strong thrust had Paul crying out and clutching the sheets as Daryl continued to thrust roughly into his warm heat from behind.

“Fuck, Paul. I’m close.”

“Me too, baby.”

Without slowing his pace, Daryl shifted his hands from Paul’s hips to his chest and pulled Paul back against his chest. Paul groaned loudly at the change in angle as Daryl now fucked up into him as he was sitting on Daryl’s lap, their lower legs tucked behind them. Paul had released his death grip on the sheets in favor of tangling them in Daryl’s hair instead by reaching up and over his own head to get at Daryl’s.

Paul could feel as Daryl’s rhythm began to falter a bit, he was close and so was Paul. Daryl moved on of his hands from Paul’s chest to his cock and began jacking him off in time with his thrusts. It didn’t take Paul long to scream out in orgasm as he spurted cum all over his chest and the bed.

Daryl groaned as Paul tightened around him and he bit down on the junction of Paul’s neck before releasing deep inside his lover.

Daryl’s pace slowed significantly as he fucked Paul through their orgasms as they both began the process of coming down. Paul reached his hand behind Daryl’s ass and gripped one of Daryl’s ass cheeks to communicate that he wanted Daryl to stay inside him for a while yet. Daryl acknowledged Paul’s request and took great care to lie them down sideways on the bed without letting his cock slip out of Paul’s ass. Paul moaned in contentment at the feeling of Daryl’s flaccid cock still inside him, his cum running down the sides of his shaft and leaking out of Paul’s ass and onto the bed in between them. Often after rough sex, Paul liked to have Daryl stay inside him after; Daryl liked it too whenever he bottomed during their rougher sexual encounters.

They’d come a long way with their sex lives since they got together almost a year ago due to their family’s meddling. At first, Daryl had been overly cautious and insecure because of his lack of experience and Paul had been afraid of Daryl judging him because of his extensive experience. In the end, they’d agreed that it didn’t matter how much or how little experience the other had, they’d move at their own pace and focus on loving each other not only in words but also in actions.

There was a knock on the door and Daryl groaned in frustration, they’d barely had a minute to themselves over the past couple days and they wanted to be left alone.

“ _How dare someone interrupt the first decent amount of time we’ve been able to spend together,_ ” Paul thought, grumbling a bit under his breath.

“What?” Paul shouted, already annoyed at whoever it was for disturbing them.

“Sorry to disturb you, but Maggie needs to see you and Daryl in her office immediately,” Kal spoke through the door.

There was no way in hell he was opening that door, he wasn’t deaf, he knew what they’d been up to just before he arrived. Sometimes they were so loud after difficult runs, it was surprising more people didn’t complain or gossip about it.

Daryl groaned and pressed his forehead into the crook of Paul’s neck like a frustrated puppy. He did this often when he was frustrated, rubbing his head against Paul in some way. That action alone was one way Daryl showed just how touch starved he’d been before he started dating Paul.

“Come on Daryl, Maggie needs us,” Paul said moving his hand back over his head to run his fingers through Daryl’s hair.

Paul let out a light moan when he clenched his ass around Daryl one last time before allowing the hunter to pull out and start getting dressed. Paul cleaned himself up a bit, not wanting to get a lot of cum on his fresh underwear. He hated doing laundry before the turn, now doing it was just downright awful; so, anything he could do to keep from having to do it as often, he would. Finally, the two were decent enough to leave the room; Paul even made sure they combed their hair since it made it obvious what they’d been up to. Not that it mattered, Paul had yelled so loud towards the end he wouldn’t be surprised if Maggie had heard them. They could be so shameless at times and it was wonderful.

“Come in,” Maggie called through the door of her office.

Paul opened the food and stepped inside leaving Daryl to close the door behind him. Maggie was sitting at her desk pouring over a few maps of the areas surrounding Hilltop. Her gaze was concentrated and concerned, her lips moving but no sound coming out as her finger glided over the roads on the map.

“What’s up?” Daryl asked moving to stand in front of the desk.

Without looking up Maggie replied, “Siddiq came up just a little while ago to inform me at least three people have come to him so far with severe flu symptoms and we don’t have a lot of medication left over after the war. There is a veterinary hospital almost a two day trip, there and back, from here that looks secluded enough that people may not have found it. I need a few people to go on a run ASAP to see if there are any medical supplies still there.”

Paul looked at the map to see where she was pointing, he’d thought about going there in the past, but length of the trip and the possibility of it being over run had always deterred him when he was scavenging on his own. Too many things could have gone wrong at a big place like that if he’d gone by himself. He was good, but since they’d never had a huge problem with illness in the camp, he hadn’t deemed it necessary.

“You think it’s really necessary to go all the way out there? Maybe...”

“Yes,” Maggie cut Paul off, “Daryl and I have seen something similar to this before at the prison. If it’s as bad as that, a lot of people are going to die very quickly so I need a team ready to depart in less than an hour.”

Paul nodded, “Who do you think should go? I mean obviously me and Daryl, we’re the two best scavengers we have.”

“Yes,” Maggie agreed, “You, Daryl, Jack, and maybe AH!”

Paul stared at Maggie gasp of pain. Maggie clutched her almost 9 month pregnant belly and looked down in horror at the puddle of water at her feet; her water had just broken, she was going into labor.

“Oh my god, you alright?” Daryl immediately jumped into action, “here, sit down.”

Paul’s stomach dropped as he came to a realization, he couldn’t go on the run now. A few weeks after Glenn was killed, Maggie had expressed her fear of giving birth on her own having seen what happened to Lori with her own eyes. Paul swore to her that when her baby came that he’d be by her side throughout the entire birth.

“Don’t worry, Maggie. We got you,” Paul assured her, “just breathe.”

Maggie took a deep breath, pushing aside her fear of giving birth and dying like Lori did, “I still need a team to... to go on that run. Paul, you...”

“are staying right here,” Paul finished for her taking her hand, “just like I promised. Daryl can go, he is more than capable of leading a team on his own.”

Maggie nodded and turned to Daryl,  “Take the maps... ugh, ouch... and get going as fast as you can. I don’t... oof... want to waste time.”

Maggie groaned a bit as one of her first of many contractions hit.

“Don’t worry about that, just focus on bring this baby into the world, I’ve got it covered,” Daryl reassured her.

He reached down and pulled Maggie into a warm hug while also being mindful of her midsection. He stood up and gathered Paul into a hug and kissed him deeply before heading for the door.

“I love you!” Paul called after him.

“Love ya, too prick.”

“Asshole.”

Maggie giggled behind Paul at their antics before it was cut short by another grunt of pain.

“Let’s get you to bed and then I’ll go get Siddiq.”

“Okay,” Maggie agreed, allowing Paul to help her up and into her bedroom.

He helped her remove her maternity pants and climb into the bed to lie down. Paul then disappeared downstairs to locate Siddiq and alert him to what was going on. He was Daryl by the gate talking to a small group of people, looked like Daryl, Jack - who’d been at Hilltop even longer than he had, and Diane - who’d worked for points in the sanctuary before and during the war, were the ones going on the run. They were all very good scavengers, but Paul wished he was going with them. It would be the first run he and Daryl hadn’t been on together since they started dating. Paul waved his goodbye and smiled as the team waved back as he stepped into the medical trailer.

“Siddiq?” Paul called, closing the door behind him.

“Paul, what brings you here?” Siddiq asked.

“Maggie, she’s gone into labor.”

“She’s early. Not too early to be worried, but still early. Where is she?” Siddiq asked beginning to gather the things he’d need for the birth.

“In her bed at Barrington. Is that alright?”

“She might want to move to one of the guest rooms because whatever mattress she gives birth on is going to get blood on it. Usually doctors would lay down a tarp so the bed wouldn’t get bloody, but I can’t think of any that are sterile at the moment.”

“Ah, maybe she’ll want to move since it’s the bed she shared with Glenn when they stayed over before he died, or maybe that’ll be what makes her want to move. I don’t know. Perhaps I could ask around, find someone willing to clean off a tarp or something.”

Siddiq nodded, struggling to gather all of the blankets and medical equipment into his hands, almost dropping something on the floor.

“You need help with that?”

“Yes, that would be wonderful,” he said handing Paul a bowl for water, some of the blankets, and a heating pad. He wasn’t going to pretend to know anything about giving birth; he is gay, watching a woman give birth to a baby had been low on his list of things he’d thought he’d experience. Then again, so was the dead coming back and walking around until the turn. After dropping everything in the spare bedroom, Paul went to fetch Maggie.

“Hey, Siddiq suggested we move you into to the spare bedroom. He doesn’t want to get the bed all bloody if we can’t find a tarp in time.”

“Makes sense,” Maggie said and took Paul’s outstretched hand.

She paused and leaned back over to grab the pillow on the opposite side of the bed. Paul raised his eyebrows in question, silently asking why the closer pillow wasn’t good enough.

“This was the pillow Glenn slept on. Even if he’s not... if he’s not here, I’d like to have something to remind me of him.”

“What happened to the watch you showed me?”

“Gregory stole it, I took it back and hung it on that hook on the wall,” she said pointing over to the coat rack next to the door, “but he must’ve taken it again before he ran to the sanctuary.”

“Maybe, I’ll see if I can locate next time I have to go there.”

“Thank you, ouch!” She grabbed her stomach.

“Come on, let’s get you to the other room,” Paul said as he wrapped his arms around her to support some of her weight and started leaving her to the other room.

Once she was settled in the bed with Siddiq checking her and making sure everything was in order for the birth, Paul left to go find a tarp of some kind. Before the turn babies born at home would normally be delivered on waterproof bed sheets, unfortunately they hadn’t been able to find any so far. Paul felt massively unprepared to deal with this, he couldn’t even imagine what Maggie was thinking and feeling right now. After all, she’s seen Lori die in childbirth herself, she had to be terrified; in fact, it was probably part of the reason she’d asked Paul to stay and be there for her since Glenn couldn’t be.

Paul made his was over to Janet’s trailer, she was one of the few people at Hilltop with experience in home births having used the process herself when she had her children. Most people would think she’d be essential to have in the birthing room now, but she flat out refused to enter any room in which a baby was being born after she lost her firstborn daughter to a walker and her second child - who had been conceived and born after the turn - had been stillborn. The loss of that second child had driven her and her husband, James, apart and he had left her and moved to the Kingdom to escape the memories shortly after.

Paul knocked on the door of her trailer, she would either throw him out or graciously help him depending on her mood that day. “Janet, you in there?”

“Jesus, that you?” she called back through the door.

“Yeah, you mind if I come in?”

“Door’s open.”

Paul opened the door and stepped inside. Janet was sitting on her couch reading a book. That couch had to be the ugliest thing Paul had ever seen. It was a mix of purple and green with sequins dotting the armrests and back. The thing honestly reminded him of Barney, a show he’d often been forced to watch at the group home. There were holes covered by pink, gray and blue patches from whatever material had been available when they first brought it back on one of the rare scouting missions he hadn’t been alone on. Paul had wanted to leave it, but Janet had adamant they bring it back to Hilltop.

Paul couldn’t fathom the reason for bringing it until they arrived home and seen the look on her nine year old daughter, Sindy’s, face when she saw it. Sindy had jumped into Paul’s arms and hugged him thanking him for helping her Mom being home the couch. Apparently the little girl’s favorite colors were purple and green and getting a couch in her favorite colors for her birthday had her over the moon. Paul hadn’t even know it was Sindy’s birthday, but was happy he had a hand in bringing a smile to her face.

“What do you need?” Janet asked, sticking a bookmark in her book and placing it on the end table.

“Maggie’s gone into labor...”

“I’m not going in that room, Jesus.”

“Oh, that’s not what I’m here to ask. I respect your desire to steer clear of childbirth. I just need your advice on what we could possibly use in place of waterproof sheets or a tarp. I’m pretty sure all of our traps are in use already. We thought we still had two more weeks to find some waterproof sheets. Daryl and I were supposed to go out to try again to find some tomorrow.”

“Waterproof sheets?”

“Yeah, that what Carson recommended.”

“Yeah, in a hospital. I never had anything that fancy, why not perform a water birth?”

“Siddiq has no experience with that and his research time was cut short by two weeks.”

“Ah, well, the first time I gave birth we used a fresh shower curtain. Got any of those?”

“I think we might in storage, I’ll go look. Thanks for your help.”

“No problem, Jesus,” Janet replied picking up her book and resuming her reading.

Paul left her trailer and quickly made his way over to the storage room in the basement of Barrington. Paul just about leaped for joy when he found a fresh shower curtain still inside the box. They only had a limited number of mattresses at the moment and destroying one with blood wouldn’t help anything. Paul rushed back up to Maggie’s beside to help Siddiq lay the tarp down while Maggie used the bathroom. Once Maggie was back in bed, Paul was able to rest a bit because all that was left to do was wait until she was ready to push.

It gave him time to think about Daryl, “ _god, please let him come home okay._ ”

Unbeknownst to Paul, at that moment Daryl was running for his life through the forest away from the veterinary hospital, alone - his team nowhere to be found.


	2. All Hell Breaks Loose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl, Diane, and Jack run into some trouble on the road.

“Hey! That’s mine,” Jack clutched the colorful plastic bag to his chest after Diane stole another stale gummy worm from him and popped it into her mouth.

She stuck her tongue out at him, “Not anymore it’s not.”

“Keep your hands out of my sweets, not my fault you ate all of yours already.”

“Kids,” Daryl teased from the front seat, “behave.”

“Sure thing, old man,” Jack fired back.

Daryl turned his head a bit to look into the rearview mirror to glare at him, “watch it, I’m not that old.”

“Sure you’re not, and that’s not gray in your beard.”

Daryl chuckled, “Shut up or you’re walking the rest of the way to the hospital.”

“Daryl, look out!” Diane shouted forcing Daryl to rip his eyes from Jack back to the road and slam on the breaks.

He saw it, almost too quick to register what he was seeing. It was a man, he’d darted out into the middle of the road and they’d nearly hit him. The man began banning on the glass, begging them to help him, “Please, they’re coming. Help me please!”

Daryl went to roll down his window to talk to the man when his words were suddenly cut short courtesy of a bullet nailing him between the eyes. Diane screamed in the back seat as the man’s body fell forward onto the front hood of the car, blood running down his face into his wide, dead eyes. They heard more shots, whoever it was that shot the man was now targeting them.

“Hold on,” Daryl demanded and floored the gas pedal, speeding off towards the hospital.

Daryl heard the back window shatter and a bullet zipped by his ear making a hole in the windshield. He drove until he was sure whoever that was wouldn’t be able to catch up, at least not on foot. He pulled into what appeared to be an old truck stop, put the car in park, and turned around to make sure his team was okay, “you both okay back... there...”

They were both dead. Jack looked fine at first, but then Daryl noticed the blood coming from his mouth, his eyes open and unseeing. Daryl couldn’t see his wounds from this angle, but he knew the kid was dead. His heart clenched, Jack had been a good guy and was going to be greatly missed at Hilltop, especially by his fiancé, Sarah. _Fuck_ , how was he going to tell Sarah about this, their wedding is... had been only two weeks away.

Daryl knew Diane was dead the second he laid eyes on her, bullet holes in the sides of her head being a good indication. Her left eye and the back of her head were missing, taken out by bullets now embedded in the back of the front row passenger seat. There was blood all over her and the car seat, more pooling in the middle between them by the second. Her entire family had been killed in the war save for her 10 year old sister; telling sweet, little Julie of her sister’s death was going to be even harder than telling Sarah about Jack’s.

Julie was always coming up to Daryl and asking him to give her piggyback rides around Hilltop. At first, Daryl had wanted to say no, her bright blue eyes, blonde hair, and infectiously optimistic personality reminding him too much of the time he’d given one to Beth just hours before she was taken. In the end, her resemblance of Beth is what made him do it. It was about time he learned to celebrate her life instead of beating himself up over her death.

Daryl turned away quickly and shoved his car door open, stumbling out onto the pavement. He stayed there for a minute, on his hands and knees, head bowed and breathing heavily from the adrenaline coursing through his body and the sudden loss he’d just suffered. He felt tears roll down his cheeks, he knew he couldn’t let himself feel the loss right now because if he did, he wouldn’t be able to move on and complete the mission. Daryl stood up and reached up to dry his eyes when he saw it, his right hand was covered in blood. Daryl grabbed his arms and pulled it in front of his body to identify where the blood was coming from. A bullet had skimmed his upper right arm. The wound wasn’t deep enough to kill him anytime soon, but he still needed to wrap it and stop the bleeding. The adrenaline and acute sense of loss must had made him numb to his own pain.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Daryl grumbled as he stood up and made his way to the trunk of the car.

It was littered with bullet holes and from here he could clearly see the hole in the back of Jack’s head. The sight made Daryl want to throw up, but he had to keep going, the people at Hilltop were counting on them... him. Daryl popped the trunk and pulled out the medical supplies stored there. He carefully unbuttoned his shirt and peeled it off. Normally, he’d just rip the sleeves off because one of them was already ruined from the bullet hole, but anymore that could be patched up and winter was coming so he needed every longer-sleeved shirt he could get.

He grabbed a clean rag and used it wipe as much away from around the wound as he could. He applied some cream medecine he didn’t know the name real name of, he just called it wound cream, and wrapped it in white gauze before pulling his shirt back on.

He grabbed the medical kit and put it on the floor in front of the passenger seat to make room in the trunk for Jack and Diane’s bodies. He wasn’t about to leave them out here to be eaten and he didn’t have enough time to dig them proper graves. At least he didn’t have to stab either of them in the head to keep them from turning, a small consolation for what he now had to do. He opened Jack’s door and wrapped his arms around his middle and pulled him out of the car and onto the ground. Daryl knelt down and picked up Jack’s body and carried it to the trunk and laid him in there carefully, he did the same with Diane before slamming the trunk shut in grief.

He took a minute, leaning against the trunk, to gather his wits and formulate a plan of action. He hadn’t heard any cars when they’d been attacked, but that didn’t mean they weren’t coming after him. That man who’d jumped in front of their car had looked absolutely terrified. It’s not like it was some twink running for his life, the guy had been bigger than Merle and looked to be just as strong, if not stronger. He’d also had what had appeared to be a two swords strapped to his back and a set of handguns on his hips, he’d looked like a fucking badass. _So, what the hell could have scared a dude like that so much that he would jump in front of a car to get away instead of stand and fight?_

Both of his hands were now covered in blood, not just his but Diane and Jack’s, too. He grabbed Jack’s water bottle and used it to wash the blood off his hands because, after all, Jack wasn’t going to be drinking it now. He threw the empty bottle onto the floor of the car and tried not to let his gaze linger on the blood staining the gray car seats dark red. He climbed back into the driver seat and restarted the car, he was about to pull away when he heard the sound of motorcycles coming from behind him. It sounded like a whole gang of them and they were approaching fast. Daryl had two options, turn off the car and lie down and hope they passed by peacefully or floor the gas pedal and try to outpace them to the hospital.

They were getting closer and it was almost dark, he’d have to stop soon anyway or risk running directly into a herd, so he killed the engine and climbed into the back seat, doing his best to ignore the half empty bag of gummy worms in front of his face and the wet texture of the seats. He pulled one of the blankets from the passenger seat, that they were supposed to use for sleeping in their tent tonight, and covered himself up in an attempt to appear as if he wasn’t there. His crossbow had been positioned in between the two and he grabbed it as well, pulling it beneath the blanket with him, ignoring the sticky substance coating the handle. He gagged at the scent of his friends’ fresh blood covering his weapon, but refused to put it back. If someone saw it through the window, there was no doubt in Daryl’s mind that they would break in to get it.

The sounds of the bikes kept getting closer and closer until the sounded like they were right on top of him. Daryl’s stomach dropped when he realized that they were right on top of him, they’d stopped at the same rest stop as he did. They killed their engines and Daryl could just barely make out what they were saying since he’d left a few of the windows partially down to let some air in.

“We’ll set up camp here for the night, we deserve some rest after all the excitement today,” a man spoke.

_He must be their leader._

“You got it boss,” someone else called back.

The leader spoke again, “Hey Jimmy, go check out that car and see if there is anything in it worth taking. Looks like it might belong to the people we shot at earlier.”

“Sure thing,” Jimmy spoke, he sounded a lot younger than anyone who’d spoken so far, probably one of the other biker’s son.

Daryl froze, his heart pounding in his chest, his palms sweating, breathing hard. There was no way out of this one, they were going to find him one way or another and he gripped his crossbow tighter. There was no bolt in it and he couldn’t risk moving to load it, so he prepared himself to swing it at the first person to open the door. Maybe he’d be able to make it to the woods while the guy was distracted.

He heard the driver side door open, he hadn’t locked it and the keys were on the seat, “Well, if they’re alive, they aren’t far. They left the keys on the seat.”

“Or they abandoned it and ran,” a woman responded, “just see if they were any good at scavenging. Check the trunk first.”

“ _Shit_ ,” Daryl thought, they were going to find Jack and Diane’s bodies back there.

Daryl heard them open the trunk and jump in surprise at the two fresh corpses in it.

“Damn, that’s disgusting. Why didn’t they just dump the bodies on the side of the road? They’re dead, it’s not like they’ll care,” Jimmy gagged.

The woman spoke again, “Look, the blood is still partially wet, these bodies are fresh. It has to be the car we shot at earlier. Whoever put the bodies in the trunk is nearby.”

“What makes you think that? They could’ve just taken another vehicle.”

“Why would someone go to all the trouble to put the bodies in the trunk only to abandon them? Answer, they didn’t. They’re close, probably scouting for a good place to bury the bodies. We’ll just have to wait for them to come back. Until then, search the rest of the car. There could still be something useful in there.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t call me ma’am.”

“Yes, ma’a... I mean, sure thing,” Jimmy corrected himself quickly.

Each footstep sounded louder in Daryl’s head as Jimmy got closer to the door. He gripped his crossbow so hard his hand was shaking lightly. These people obviously had no regard for human life outside of their own people, they’d kill him the second they saw him. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he waited like a snake ready to strike.

The door opened and Daryl lunged, nailing Jimmy in the nose. He heard it crack and knew he’d broken it. Daryl quickly shoved the screaming man out of the way and sprinted towards the woods on the opposite side of the road.

“Somebody stop him!” somebody behind him yelled.

He heard gunfire and felt the bullets zip past him as he flat out ran towards the tree line. Out of the plethora of bullet holes in the car, only three had made their mark and while those three bullets had caused him a lot of pain, it was also a good sign for him at the moment. “ _Thank god those people were bad shots or he’d already be dead.”_

One of the bullets managed to catch him on his upper thigh and he stumbled, but managed to regain his balance and keep going. His leg, lungs, and arm were on fire from running, but he couldn’t stop. He crossed the treeline and immediately started traveling diagonally away from the hospital. His only hope was to find somewhere to hide and bandage his wounds before trying to complete his mission. If he tried to keep going for much longer in this state, he’d surely die.

Daryl ran for what felt like forever, the sound of gunfire and yelling fading into the background as he ran. He could feel his pace slowing as the pain in his legs increased as he lost more blood. Eventually he managed to break out into a clearing. In the clearing was what appeared to be an old hunting cabin. The windows were covered in spiderwebs, the wood decaying from lack of proper care, and the roof looked more like Swiss cheese than shelter, but it would do.

Daryl hobbled to the door as fast as he could and banged on the door. When he heard nothing he hoped that meant there were no walkers inside, he opened the door and stepped inside. He shut the door and locked it before leaning against it and collapsing to the ground to catch his breath, his crossbow falling from his hand and clattering on the ground. He’d managed to remain conscious despite the blood loss, but he was too weak to stand at the moment. He needed to stop the bleeding and wrap his wounds. Looks like he’s going to have to destroy his shirt after all.

A gun cocked to his left and an angry woman demanded, “who the hell are you and where is my husband!”

Daryl leaned his head back to rest on the door behind him in momentary exhaustion and defeat, “ _Fuck_.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is enjoying it so far. :)
> 
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated! <3
> 
> Tumblr - theHunter_and_theNinja


	3. Baby Hershel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s go time, baby Hershel is on his way!

“Ooh, fuck that hurts,” Maggie groaned, closing her eyes as another contraction hit.

“Is it time yet?” Paul asked Siddiq, it was almost two in the morning and Maggie still wasn’t ready to push.

“Not quite yet, she isn’t dilated enough yet. We still probably have about 6 or 7 hours left to go before she’s ready to deliver.”

“6 or 7!?!” Maggie practically yelled, her head shooting up off the pillow.

“Yes, you need to be fully dilated before you push to avoid causing yourself severe injury.”

“Ugh.”

“Hey, I’m here for you,” Paul said, trying to be reassuring, but Maggie wasn’t having it.

“Yes, but are you in pain waiting to push something the size of a cantaloupe out of a hole the size of a quarter?!?”

“No...”

“Then shut up.”

“Yep.”

Paul and Siddiq exchanged looks, neither of them had ever seen her this aggravated, ever.

“ _ This is going to be a long night _ ,” Paul thought as he leaned back in his chair beside Maggie’s bed.

And it was. Six long hours of an uncomfortable, irritated Maggie and Paul could do absolutely nothing to help. He’d never wished for Glenn to be alive more than he did right now so that he could deal with his wife. Paul loved Maggie like a sister, but it was taking a lot in him to keep himself from showing his exhaustion, in general, not just with her constant bitchy comebacks.

She had a right to be bitchy, she was legit about to push to a human being out of her vagina.  _ Are all women like this during birth? _ He had to believe that was the case since Maggie was normally so kind, funny, and understanding. Now, however, she had zero sense of humor and each contraction hurt worse than the last. Part of him wished he was on the run with Daryl, but he swore to be here for Maggie and that’s exactly what he was going to do.

The door opened and Siddiq reappeared, he had gone to check on the flu patients in quarantine. So far, they’d only had one fatality. It had been an elderly woman, Susan, but everyone knew she didn’t have much longer anyway. Carson had diagnosed her with lung cancer almost six months ago, so when she got it, everyone had made sure to say goodbye.

Sticking all of the sick people into quarantine was the last order Maggie had given before turning her full attention to bringing her baby into the word. Siddiq wasn’t allowed to enter because he was going to deliver Maggie’s baby and she didn’t want it risk getting the baby sick, but there was a nurse on the inside who relayed all of the information to him through a set of walkie talkies they’d taken from the Sanctuary.

“Okay Maggie, I’m going to check and see if it’s time to push.”

“It had better fucking be,” Maggie complained.

Siddiq lifted up the sheet to take a look, he had offered to show Paul how to tell how far she was dilated, but he’d refused. He had no interest in seeing Maggie’s vagina until the baby’s head was coming out of it. And that was only because then he would absolutely have to. He’d already promised himself that this was the only birth he was ever going to attend.

“You’re fully dilated. Now for the really hard part,” Siddiq warned.

He grabbed a chair and positioned himself in front of Maggie, “Paul, take her hand. She’s going to need something to hold onto.”

Paul grabbed Maggie’s hand, brought it to his face, and kissed it, “Okay, it’s go time. Let’s bring this little bundle of screaming joy into the world.”

“I will,” Maggie retorted.

“Push,” Siddiq commanded from between her legs.

“AHHH!” Maggie screamed and squeezed Paul’s hand so hard he thought she was going to break his hand.

He squeezed back as she continued to push, screaming with each contraction.

“The baby is crowning, keep pushing,” Siddiq instructed.

“AH... I’m so tired Paul, I can’t... I need Glenn,” she panted looking at him desperately.

“Yes, you can, Maggie. You are the strongest, bravest, and most amazing woman I have ever met. If anyone can do this, it’s you.”

“Glenn...”

“I need you to keep pushing, having the baby stay in the birth canal for too long will cause harm to both you and the baby,” Siddiq warned.

“I’m sure Glenn is looking down on us right now, watching you bring his child into the world. Come on Maggie, push!”

“AHHH!” Maggie screamed as she pushed hard, squeezing his fingers until the started to turn slightly purple.

“Paul, I need you to get on the bed behind her and support her weight, the pillows aren’t doing the job.”

“On it,” Paul stood from his seat and carefully manovored himself into a sitting position behind Maggie, his legs dangling over the side of the bed.

Maggie immediately put all over her weight on him and her grip on his hand was making it hard for him to feel his fingers. She looked so tired, but so determined and it was beautiful. He could feel her muscles contract as she pushed and screamed. He couldn’t believe she was doing this completely naturally, no pain killers to help her because they didn’t have any that were safe or powerful enough to take for childbirth. They had one bottle, but it was so outdated it probably wouldn’t have done anything to help her anyway, so why risk using old meds when they most likely won’t work.

“I’ve got the head, just a little more Maggie and it’ll be over.”

She screamed again, pushing one last time and Paul watch in awe as the baby slid from her into Siddiq’s waiting hands. He immediately started rubbing the baby’s chest to get it to breathe. Paul waited in absolute terror as he waited for the baby to cry. Maggie was leaning against him, completely spent. Finally, a loud cry pierced the air as the baby took its first breath and Paul nearly cried in relief. That had been a long time to wait for a baby to cry.

“Maggie, you’re not going to like this, but I need you to give me one last, good push.”

“Why?” Paul asked, he was confused because the baby was already out.

“She still needs to deliver the placenta.”

Maggie whimpered in Paul’s arms, “I can’t...”

“Yes, you can,” Paul assured her, “one last push, come on. You can do it, the hard part is over now.”

Maggi groaned in pain as she pushed the placenta out onto the bed and Paul nearly gagged at the sight of it. The thing looked disgusting and he’d see walkers so rotten that their heads caved in like pancakes and their brains were liquid and leaked all over him when he stabbed them.

The baby was screaming its lungs out, but Maggie’s expression couldn’t be happier as she looked upon her new baby.

“Congratulations, you did it, Mommy,” Paul whispered, looking at the newborn babe.

Maggie let out a tired giggle, “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“It’s a boy,” Siddiq smiled brightly as he reported the new baby’s gender.

Siddiq was using the bowl of water and some fresh towels to wash the baby off as he was screaming. Once he was satisfied, Siddiq wrapped the baby in a soft, pink towel and carefully stood to hand the baby over to Maggie. She carefully lowered the baby onto her lap as she smiled down at her child. As soon as he was settled into his mother’s arms, he started happily suckling at her breast. Siddiq made quick work of clearing away the disgusting shower curtain and explained he had to go get some things to run some tests just to make sure the new baby was okay before disappearing through the doorway.

“He’s beautiful, Maggie,” Paul whispered, afraid to break the almost peaceful spell that had befallen the room as the watched the newborn feed.

He had a thin coat of black fuzz covering his head for hair and eyes identical to his father. His skin color wasn’t as dark as Glenn’s was, but it wasn’t as light as Maggie’s either. However, he did have his mother’s nose and mouth. He was a perfect mix of the two. 

“Yes, he is. He looks so much like his father.”

“Glenn would be proud. Do you know what you’re going to name him?”

“Yes, his name is Hershel Rhee.”

“Perfect.”

Maggie turned her face to look at him, he was still sitting behind her, supporting her weight, “You didn’t let me finish.”

“Oh, sorry. Middle name?”

“His full name is Hershel Glenn Rovia Rhee.”

Paul shifted his position carefully, but quickly, to look into Maggie’s eyes, “You serious?”

“Yes.”

Paul could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he leaned forward to kiss Maggie on the cheek and caress little Hershel’s head, “I’m honored, thank you.” 

“You’re my brother, Paul. It only makes sense that he should be named after his grandfather, father, and one of his godfathers.”

Paul just kept staring at her in complete and utter shock and joy, he couldn’t find the words to express what he was feeling.

“Part of me wanted to put Dixon in there after Rovia, but I know how much Daryl hates his last name because of the memories he associates with it, so I didn’t. And Hershel Glenn Rovia Daryl Rhee is too much of a mouthful.”

Paul laughed a bit and kissed Maggie on the forehead again. His heart was bursting with joy over seeing baby Hershel and having him partially named after him.

“I only wish Daryl was here to see this. He’d be more of a mess than I am, I guarantee it. He likes to act tough, but he’s more emotionally attuned than I am.”

“That’s true. Looking at you everyone would think you’re the sweet, emotional one and Daryl’s the tough guy and while he is extremely badass, you’re the stronger one. I was over the moon when I found out about you two, Daryl finally found someone who would protect him.”

Paul hugged Maggie close to his chest as they both sat quietly watching Hershel finish eating and fall asleep in her arms.

“Can you take him please? I need to sleep. I can barely hold him anymore.”

“Sure thing, I’ll put him in the blue bassist over there on the table, okay?” Paul stood and reached out his arms to take the baby.

“Sounds good to me, just try not to wake him.”

“I’ll do my best, but no promises. I’ve never held a baby before.”

“Here,” Maggie said, preparing to pass Hershel off to him, “support his back and his head. Got him?”

“Yep,” Paul assured her as he carefully positioned the baby into a comfortable position in his arms.

Paul cradled the baby close to his chest and smiled down at him as Hershel subconsciously wrapped his tiny fist around Paul’s finger. He walked over to the bassinet and carefully lowered baby Hershel into it and covered him with an orange blanket. The color combination of the pink cloth acting as his temporary clothing, the orange blanket, and the blue bassinet was strange, but it’s what they had on hand. Besides, color stereotypes for babies was a bit overrated after the initial gender reveal.

The baby gurgled softly as Paul transferred his tiny fist from his finger to the blanket. When Paul turned back around to look at Maggie, she was already fast asleep. Paul smiled and quietly left the room to let the new Mommy and baby get some rest.

He wished so badly that Daryl had been there to witness the process of bring new life into the world, but he understood the importance of getting that medicine.

“ _ He’s perfect Daryl and we’re godfathers. Who would’ve thought we’d ever become that before the turn. I wish you could’ve been here to see it _ ,” the thought as he looked up at the stars wishing Daryl home as fast as he could.

Unaware Daryl was currently engaged in a staring match with the barrel of a gun and facing yet another life altering decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to wait another day to post this, but I couldn’t help myself.
> 
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated. <3
> 
> Tumblr - theHunter_and_theNinja


	4. Damien Lane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Great, now what?” Daryl thought.
> 
> WARNING: Brief mention of Rape/non-con (dubious consent)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who is reading this and has left comments or kudos. It makes me feel all fuzzy inside to know that people enjoy my writing. <3

Daryl closed his eyes and knocked his head back against the door a few times in frustration. This was too much all at once. He lost two of his friends, got shot by a bunch of batshit crazy bikers, and now is being held at gunpoint by some strange woman in a creepy as fuck old cabin in the woods. Damn, that sounded exactly like the plot of one of those really shitty horror/action films he and Merle used to watch when they were drunk.

“Where is he!?!” She demanded again, shaking the gun in his face.

“Look, I don’t know who you’re talking about. The only people I’ve met lately is a group of nasty bikers and you, okay. I don’t know who or where your husband is.”

Daryl opened his eyes to focus on the woman. It was starting to get really dark so he could only really make out her face, the rest of her body was cloaked in shadow. She looked to be in her early twenties and had fiery red hair contrasting perfectly with her pale skin and she had more freckles than anyone could possibly count. Her brown eyes were filled with fear and determination as she held the gun in Daryl’s face.

“You can put the gun down, you know. I’m not going to hurt you. I don’t think I could get up right now anyway.”

“You’re not with the bikers?” she asked, but kept the gun pointed at him.

“No, they’re the ones that shot me. I was running from them when I stumbled on this cabin and hurried inside.”

She still looked unsure, but Daryl needed to wrap his wounds, he could still feel himself bleeding, “Can I please bandage my wounds? I’d rather not bleed out.”

“Oh, uh... sure I guess,” but the gun stayed where it was.

Daryl sighed and then started removing his shirt. The wound on his arm had started bleeding again due to the pace at which he’d run. He pulled his knife from the sheath on his waist and began cutting his shirt in wide strips. The woman was watching him closely, finger no longer on the trigger, but the gun was still pointed directly at his head.

Daryl groaned as he shifted his leg up into a position he could wrap it in. The gash was about mid thigh, but wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. He was really lucky those bikers couldn’t shoot for shit. He carefully cleaned the wound the best he could before wrapping a few pieces of his shirt around his leg tight enough to slow the blood flow, but not so tight as to cut off circulation to the rest of his leg. When he was done, he moved his leg back into a resting position to try and relieve tension from it. Making it to the hospital was becoming more impossible every minute because Daryl severely doubted his ability to walk back to the road right now.

“Are you going to shoot me or what?”

The woman was startled by his sudden question, “Not unless you give me a reason to.”

“Then can you put it down please? I think I’ve got enough bullet wounds to last me for a while.”

“Just because you’re wounded, doesn’t mean I trust you.”

Daryl sighed, he would never hurt a woman unless he absolutely had to. He needed to rest in order to heal faster, but this lady was not having it. He needed to figure out how to get her to trust him enough to lower the gun. Paul was always better at talking people down, so Daryl was going to try his best to mimic his personality with this woman.

“That’s fine, I can respect that. In this world one can never be too careful. But I think we got off to the wrong start here, I’m Daryl. I was on my way to the veterinary hospital just north of here when a man ran out of the woods begging for help. I tried to help him but we were ambushed by a group of bikers that shot him and my two teammates. I only escaped by running into the woods. I mean you no harm, I’d just like to rest and let myself heal before I have to head back out.”

The woman’s expression shifted from wary to worried and maybe a bit terrified, “What did he look like?”

“The asshole that shot me? I’ve got no...”

“No! The guy that ran out of the woods. Did he have two swords strapped to his back?”

Daryl immediately got a sense of dread, that man was probably this woman’s husband, “yes. I’m so sorry.”

Daryl could see the tears forming in her eyes as she processed the information.

“No,” she whispered.

“No!” she wailed before dropping the gun and collapsing on the ground.

Her hands moved to cover her face as she wept over the news of her husband’s death. Daryl quickly kicked the gun over to the other side of the room just to be safe. He didn’t dare approach the woman while she was in such a state. He had no idea how she would react to a stranger touching her right now. Instead, he focused on relaxing and reclaimed his senses that had been in overdrive. Had it been someone he knew, he’d have scooped them up in his arms and held them tight to his chest. They stayed like this for what felt like hours. Eventually her crying subsided into small sniffles, but she did not raise her head.

Daryl wondered how Maggie was doing back at Hilltop, if she’d had the baby already or not. It had been almost an entire day since he left Hilltop so he hoped she had. Though truthfully, he had absolutely no idea how long labor took. He knew it took hours, but he wasn’t sure how many. Suddenly the woman’s cries were cut off my a sudden gasp of pain.

“What is it?” Daryl’s asked.

 _Had a walker managed to get in?_ He hadn’t heard one...

“No, no, not now. No.”

“What?”

“You have any medical training? You bandaged yourself up really well.”

“Uh, no. I only know how to deal with bullet wounds and other stuff like that. What’s wrong?”

This time Daryl sat up straighter and really looked at her, that’s when he saw it. Her belly was huge, but she wasn’t overweight, she’s pregnant and, judging by her gasps of pain, in labor.

“Because I need a doctor, now. I had a c-section before the turn with my first child. I can’t deliver vaginally.”

_Shit._

* * *

Back at Hilltop Paul was making his way back to Maggie’s room to check on her and the baby. When he opened the door he was surprised to see Kal standing there.

“Hey, Kal. Come to meet our newest addition?”

“I wish, Siddiq sent me here with news. Since Maggie gave birth almost 10 more people have come down with the flu and two more have died. We need those meds now. How much longer do you think Daryl will be gone?”

Maggie was awake with a map on her lap trying to measure the exact distance to the hospital and figure out how long it should take them to return. Paul rolled his eyes, of course she couldn’t stay out of it for long. Even if she wasn’t allowed out of bed yet, she could still lead.

“He’s been gone almost 24 hours now, he should be back within the next 24 as long as nothing goes wrong. If he’s not back by dawn tomorrow, send a search party to locate them.”

“Yes ma’am,” Kal answered, removing the maps from her lap and disappearing through the door.

The commotion woke baby Hershel from his slumber and he started to cry, his little fists waving back and forth in the air. Maggie’s head shot up, her motherly instincts in hyperdrive. Paul walked over to his bassinet and peered down at the boy, his round face all scrunched up from crying.

“I’ll bet you’re hungry. At least, I hope you don’t need your diaper changed. Yuck.”

Maggie laughed, “He probably is hungry, bring him here please.”

“Come here little man,” Paul cooed as he scooped Hershel up into his arms.

The baby fussed and squirmed in his grip, but he made sure to support his head carefully, just like Maggie had instructed. Paul slowly made his way over to Maggie, fearful of tripping and dropping him. Paul had never had an interest in babies, not really, so holding Hershel scared him a bit because he didn’t want to fuck it up. He handed him over to Maggie and she immediately started trying to get him to feed. His cries ceased as soon as he latched onto her and began to drink.

“Paul, do me a favor, give me that rag over there, he’s going to need to be burped.”

Paul turned around and grabbed the rag lying over the back of the chair and handed it to Maggie. Paul smiled softly at the sight of Maggie feeding her baby. The bond between a mother and her child was something Paul had always envied when he was young having never experienced it himself. But now all he could feel was pride and love, he’d helped her bring this child into the world and now he was going to protect them both at all costs.

He couldn’t figure out why his need to protect them felt so strong at the moment. Nothing was coming for them, Negan’s out of the way, so why does he have a bad feeling? _God, I hope Daryl is okay._

“How are you doing, Paul?”

“Fine.”

“You worried about Daryl?”

“I’m always worried about Daryl.”

“He’s going to be fine. Daryl’s a fighter. He’ll stop at nothing to get back home to you.”

“I know, but I still worry.”

Hershel gurgled as he let go of Maggie’s breast. She lifted him up carefully to burp him over her shoulder on the rag Paul had given her. Hershel coughed and then spit up all over the rag.

“There we go, all better. Paul, can you throw the rag in the laundry basket.”

“No problem.”

Paul stood up to throw the rag in the laundry, but paused when Maggie grabbed his wrist, “Hey, they’re going to be fine. They can take care of themselves. You’ll see. Tomorrow morning you’ll both be back in your trailer doing what you do best.”

“And that would be?”

“Fucking each others’ brains out of course,” Maggie teased, laughing.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Paul joined in before turning away to throw the spit up covered rag in the basket.

* * *

Daryl used his uninjured arm and leg to scoot himself closer to her, wary of her reaction. She had stopped crying now, her attention fully centered on the child she was about to have. She breathed in and out slowly, her hands clutching her stomach.

“My husband, David, was supposed to be here. We were supposed to go to the vet hospital. Ah!”

“Do you trust me enough to let me help?”

“No, but I don’t have a choice do I?”

No, you don’t. Do you have any means of transportation? Any way to get to the hospital?”

“No, that’s what David left to get. We don’t have time anyway.”

“What do you mean? Births take hours, we have time. We just have to get to the road and then...” Daryl made to stand, but she lurched forward and grabbed his arm.

“No!” she yelled, “The bikers could still be there. They won’t come into the woods to look for you, but if we go out there they will kill us. I won’t risk putting my baby in harm's way.”

“How do you know so much about them?”

“We used to be part of them. When we joined back at the start, we had to agree to some terms. Horrible terms, but we were desperate.”

“What terms?”

“The leader, a fuckface named Damien Lane, rules with an iron fist and through fear. Disobey him and he kills you, no hesitation, you’re just dead. My husband and I have been together for 10 years... ah!”

She grabbed into his arm for dear life as another contraction ripped through her.

“Our only daughter died within the first week of the turn. She was bitten by her boyfriend during the night when he died from a drug overdose, stupid asshole.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m glad she wasn’t with us when he met the bikers.”

“Why?”

“Before the turn, they were a motorcycle gang that dealt in drugs and prostitution.”

Daryl’s stomach dropped in realization of what she was saying.

“The deal was that for protection, every woman is the group has to have sex with him whenever he wants and we can only be with the person we love when he says. If we get pregnant, by him or anyone else, he beats us until we lose the child. According to him, children are a burden that will only slow us down and get us killed. I’ve never seen him do it, but I heard stories from before we joined. Only been with them for a year... ugh!”

Breathing hard through another contraction, she revealed, “I haven’t been with my husband in a year. This child is not my husband’s. It’s Damien’s and I’ll be damned if I let that fucker murder my baby.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y’all enjoyed it!
> 
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated. <3


	5. Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided not to go into all the gory details as much this time. Already had a chapter focused on childbirth.
> 
> Also, I have at admit that after getting no responce to the last chapter I almost gave up on the story. Getting no responce to our work makes fanfic writers question our writing and storytelling abilities a whole fucking lot. So please, comment or at the very least leave kudos on every fan fiction you read and enjoy; I’m not just saying this for mine. I know a lot of other fanfiction writers that have stopped writing due to the lack of response they receive to their work.
> 
> It doesn’t matter if it is a long ass comment or a simple “love it, great job!” (though we willingly admit we love long ass comments more). Leaving an encouraging note on a fic (no matter how small) makes the writer feel appreciated and happy. It also makes them want to write more which means more stories for you to read and enjoy.
> 
> Rant over ~ now back to out regularly scheduled program.

Blood.

_So much blood._

It had happened so fast and he hadn’t been able to do anything to help her.

The baby she died to protect was cradled in his arms as he made his way towards the vet hospital. The mother’s shirt acting as a temporary joint binky to keep the newborn’s screams from attracting walkers and a blanket from his car acting as the child’s clothes. The child was still covered in the blood of her mother as he hadn’t been able to clean her off properly since most of their clothes were either too dirty or already covered in blood.

The birth had only taken 4 hours and had resulted in a motherless baby. Her last wish was for Daryl to take the child and raise her as his own because he was the one that saved her. When the blood had started to flow down the woman’s legs, she’d told him to cut her open and get the baby out. He’d protested strongly, not wanting a repeat of Lori, but the woman had insisted there was no other way.

The woman died smiling at her daughter for the first and last time. He didn’t even know the woman’s name; he’d forgotten to ask between the being held at gunpoint and the sudden birth. The child had no name either, her mother died before she could name her. So, for now, Daryl simply called her baby.

Daryl knew he had to get to vet hospital quickly because right next to it was an old daycare and he hoped to god that there was formula there. Formula wasn’t a common need for runs since most mothers in the communities had been able able to produce their own milk so far. Daryl knew going back to Hilltop was a better chance at finding formula quickly, but there were more people than just this baby counting on him.

They’d been about an hour from the hospital when the bikers had attacked, so he figured it should take him about three to get there on foot. Daryl had carefully made his way back towards the road, keeping a sharp eye out for the bikers, but when he got there, they were gone. He moved towards the car quickly, only to see that they’d put holes in all 4 of the tires. Daryl had shrugged originally, he would damage the rims severely, but the car would still drive. He’d remained hopeful until he’d tried to hotwire it and got nothing. They’d also put three bullets into the engine of the car.

Daryl had quickly checked the rest stop for formula and found nothing, so his last option was to make it to the daycare and hope there was some there. If there wasn’t he was going to have to get very creative with what he used to keep the child alive until he could make it back to Hilltop.

_I wish Paul was here right now, one of us would be able to take the child home while the other went to get meds._

Daryl walked for a little over an hour before coming across a group of cars in the road. It took Daryl three tries to find a car that would start and had enough gas to get him to the hospital and back home. He then raided the rest of the cars and managed to find one with a car seat and a few real binkies for baby. It took him way longer than he anticipated to get the car seat out of the broken car and into the car that worked. He’d been so focused on his task he’d nearly jumped out of his skin when a walker banged against the window of the car in front of him. As soon as the car was ready, he peeled out of there as fast as he could. He’d lost a lot of time with the whole biker and baby fiasco.

He was still in shock over everything that had occured in the last day and a half. He could barely think straight. He’d delivered and became a father to the daughter of a stranger, lost two of his friends to a bunch of guys he and Merle probably would’ve run with before the world ended, and taken two bullets himself. He needed a nap big time, but he couldn’t afford to stop now; even if he hadn’t slept in over 48 hours.

Soon enough, baby started fussing again, the material of her mother’s shirt wasn’t helping keep the hunger at bay anymore. It didn’t take long for her to start straight up screaming and Daryl had no idea how to help her. The closet thing he’d had to a baby was when he’d found a puppy lost in the woods when he was a child. He’d coaxed it out of it’s hiding place with some dried deer jerky and it had let him run its stomach before Daryl took it back to the address listed on the dog’s collar. Out of pure desperation, he reached his hand over, it was still bloody, and started rubbing her belly. Baby’s crying slowed as he moved his fingers up and down her tiny chest, doing his best to comfort her, “We’re almost there, Baby, I promise.”

Baby gurgled out a strange noise in response as she stretched one of her little arms down and placed it on the back of his hand. He kept doing that until they pulled into the parking lot of the daycare. So far, he didn’t see any walkers, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any inside. He cracked the window of the car and Baby immediately started fussing over the loss of contact until Daryl gave her one of the binkies he’d found to quiet her. Lucky for him they’d still been in the packaging so they were safe for her to suck on.

He quickly made his way to the front of the daycare and banged on the window. He stood and waited for any walkers to show up. After about 5 min, only 3 had shown up and all of them appeared to have been there since the beginning. One looked like it had been an employee while the other two looked more like grandmas that had come to pick up their grandkids and never made it home.

“I really hope I don’t find any kid walkers in here,” he said aloud to absolutely no one.

He carefully cracked the door to the center and took out each walker, one at a time before going to fetch Baby.

“Come here, Baby. I really need a better name for you, but Paul will be really disappointed if I don’t let him help name you. After all, he’s your daddy now to...”

He hadn’t thought of it before, Paul had never expressed interest, before or after the turn according to him, in wanting children. _How is he going to react to me bringing home a baby?_ He hoped Paul would agree to help him raise the child because Daryl was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be able to let Baby go.

He scooped the child up into his arms, cradling her head just like he had with Judith when she was first born, grabbed Diane’s water bottle - doing his best to ignore the feeling of her dried blood mixing with the blood on his hands - and quickly made his way into the daycare, closing the door behind them. The place wasn’t that big so it didn’t take him long to locate the nursery, but the sight that greeted him name him want to throw up.

In one of he cribs there was a baby, no more than a year old and it was a walker. It probably belonged to one of the old women walkers he’d killed on his way in. He put Baby down in the cleanest of the cribs in the room and made his way over to the walker baby. Its pink onesie had faded from the constant sunlight and its face was a decayed mess of rotting flesh. The binky it had once sucked on was chewed in half, the child must’ve died sucking on it.

His eyes traveled down the length of the child’s body to where he could clearly make out a stab wound. The child had been killed, probably by one of the adult walkers thinking they were sparing it the pain of living in the new world. His heart ached for the child as he used his own knife to carefully put the baby walker down as he couldn’t bare to watch it suffer anymore.

“I am so sorry,” he whispered.

His mind was brought back to the present when Baby started wailing at the top of her lungs, the binky lying abandoned on her chest.

“Yes, I know you’re hungry. I need to wash you off, too.” Daryl spoke softly to the child, only causing her to scream louder.

Daryl turned and started rifling through the cabinets, searching desperately for some formula to give her.

“Yes!” He was so happy when he opened a cupboard to find three boxes full of baby formula with a tub of clean bottles next to it.

Luckily, the bottles had been stored in an airtight container so there was no dust on the bottles or the teats. He quickly pulled one of the boxes of formula out to check the expiration date on it. He breathed a sigh of relief when he read that it had only expired a month ago. Giving expired food to a baby could be dangerous, but he hoped this stuff wasn’t too far gone. Besides, it’s not like he had another choice.

He quickly read the instructions and prepared the bottle with the formula and Diane’s water. He knew it would be safer to boil the water before preparing it, but he had no heat source and not enough time to build a fire. He used the rest of the water and some of the soap from the dispenser hanging over the sink to clean some of the blood off his hands and forearms before moving on to clean Baby as best he could.

After the bottle was ready, he went back over to Baby and carefully picked her up before laying her on his chest and shoulder to free up his left hand. He grabbed a clean burping rag and the bottle from the counter and sat down in one of the many rocking chairs in the room. Setting the bottle down, he threw the rag over his shoulder before repositioning Baby go better feed her. Her face was red from crying and Daryl’s heart broke for her.

“I know, Baby, I know it’s not warm, but you need to drink. Come on, work with me here.”

Finally, Baby latched onto the teat and began to drink. Daryl let out a sigh of relief because he knew it meant she was going to be alright, hopefully. They still had to get the meds and make it back to Hilltop all in one piece.

Watching her feed reminded him of what Merle had told him about how often he had cried as a baby when their parents forgot to feed him. According to Merle, he had fed him the most because by the time Daryl was born, his mother and father were both heavily dependent on drugs and alcohol. Merle said he’d come home from school to find him wailing in his crib having not been fed or touched all day, their parents passed out drunk or high on the couch. He remembered the story of the night he almost died vividly and let himself get lost in the memory as he watched Baby drink happily from the bottle in hand.

* * *

Daryl had only been a year old when Merle arrived home from high school one day expecting to hear him crying in his crib, but everything was quiet. Merle had rushed over to his crib to find him lying in his crib with a fever and unable to focus on anything. Worried, Merle had picked him up and taken him into the kitchen to try to get him to drink, but Daryl had refused and simply started bawling. He’d cried for hours before Merle finally gave up trying to figure it out and took him to the hospital. He was desperately searching for answers for why his baby brother was crying, he’d tried everything, but nothing had worked.

The nurses had seen him and immediately rushed him and his brother into a room and checked Daryl over. Her face had become more and more worried as she examined him and she soon left to get a doctor. The doctor drew some blood and asked Merle to wait for a bit for the tests to come back. Merle sat there rocking his screaming brother forever before the doctor rushed back in and immediately took Daryl away. Merle tried to ask him what was wrong but the doctor didn’t explain simply stating “it could already be too late, that he needed go now, no time to explain.”

Terrified, Merle latched onto the next nurse that came into the room demanding she tell him what was going on with his baby brother.

“Someone in your house fed him alcohol and a lot of it.”

“Could it kill him?”

“That much alcohol for a baby is dangerous so yes, it could kill him, but Dr. Cooper is certain we caught it in time. When you came in smelling of it, it was the first thing we checked. Sometimes parents get drunk and think they’re filling his bottle with formula but it’s actually alcohol. Who are your parents?”

“Meryl and Will Dixon, ma’am.”

“We are going to call child services and have them come get you and your brother.”

“No! Don’t do that, we’re fine. This was just an accident.”

“So you’re saying that your parents are never too drunk to look after you two?”

“Yes. Mom was just having a bad day, it’s the anniversary of her sister’s death. My Dad was at work, please don’t say anything.”

The nurse eyed him suspiciously, “fine. We won’t for now, but if we see you again without your parents, we are going to have to report you.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Merle waited patiently for the doctor to bring his baby brother back and carefully listened to all of the instructions provided by the doctor before taking his brother home. He’d asked the doctor how the visit cost, but the doctor had brushed him off and said he’d cover it. Merle had taken Daryl home and yelled at his parents for being so careless as to give him alcohol.

“He wouldn’t shut the fuck up, I know alcohol makes Will shut up so I figured it work on Daryl,” his mother replied to the accusations put forth by Merle.

Merle was furious as screamed at her about how stupid she was, but all he got in return for saving his brother’s life was a slap from his mother, who died six years later in a house fire, and an asswhooping from his father.

* * *

Merle had dropped out of high school to care for Daryl until he was old enough to fend for himself for the most part. He had planned to get his diploma, find a good job and use the money to get him and his brother out of that he’ll hole, but having to drop out and care for Daryl had screwed those plans to hell. Instead, he started dealing and ended up going down the same path as their father. Merle had been 25 and Daryl only been 12 when Merle signed up for the army to get out of going to jail for the third time and left Daryl behind with his abusive father.

Daryl sighed, looking down at Baby, “Paul and I ain’t never going to let any of that happen to you. I promise.”

When she was done drinking Daryl settled her against his shoulder over the burping rag and patted her back until he heard her burp. He lowered her back into his arms and smiled at her when she cooed at his attention.

“Yep, there is no way I’m giving you away; you’re mine now. You’re my daughter and if anyone ever tries to hurt you, I’ll break their neck.”

He gurgled her reply as Daryl stood and grabbed a basket throwing random supplies he and Paul might need for a baby into it. He made his was back out of the daycare without incident and got back into the car and drove to his original destination, the vet hospital.

He replaced her binky and picked her up in her car seat that converts into a carrier. This time, there were no good options for how to keep her safe, he needed to get those meds, but he couldn’t just leave her out in the car. He banged on the window and when no walkers came he cautiously opened the door and stepped inside. Jackpot. He quickly made his way over the the pharmaceutical area near the front desk and set the carrier down on the wide ledge between him and the medication. He carefully hopped over the counter and set the carrier down on the floor next to him.

He immediately went to work clearing the shelves of everything and dumping the bottles into a large basket he’d found in the back. While there quite a lot of meds, there wasn’t enough to make it impossible to carry all of it and Baby back to the car in one trip. He thanked god there were no walker incidents this time as he made his way back to the car. He strapped the car seat back into position in the passenger seat before putting the meds in the back and tearing out of the parking lot.

He had been gone a longer than he was supposed to have been gone and he didn’t want Paul to worry too much, so he did his best to make good time home. He didn’t let up on the gas until he saw the gates of Hilltop come into view.

“Well, would you look at that Baby, we’re home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and Commends are greatly appreciated. <3


	6. Welcome Home Baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl arrives home with Baby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU to everyone that commented on my last chapter. Keep it up, please. Knowing people enjoy my work is what makes me want to write more of it. Also, that pic of Norman holding George made me want to write more daddy!Daryl.
> 
> ~~~~~~~
> 
> It sucks that Andy is going to be leaving next season and I can understand why people are apprehensive about Daryl taking the lead role. AMC needs to do some serious character development with him (hopefully heavily including Paul) next season if they expect for him to be able to carry the show.  
> I love Norman Reedus and I’m willing to give this a shot, but the writers and the new show runner need to step up and give him good enough content to work this. Otherwise, this show is lost for good.
> 
> I also really hope the rumors about Diane being pregnant are true. I saw the picture of Norman holding baby George and my heart absolutely melted. <3 Besides, with the Andy news, we could all use a serous pick-me-up right about now.

“Paul, stop pacing and sit down. I’m sure they’re fine,” Maggie attempted to ease his mind as he walked back and forth at the foot of her bed.

“They should’ve been back by now and you know it. It’s almost dawn and they’re still out there,” Paul collapsed on the bed, his face in his hands.

“Daryl is more than capable of hanging difficult situations on his own and this time he has a good team to back him up. If he’s still not here went the sun rises, I’ll send out a group to look for them. Okay?”

“Yeah, but what if something really bad happened and it’s too late? Crazy shit can happen on runs even now.”

“I know...”

She was cut off by Hershel’s indignant little yell at being ignored by his mother. Maggie immediately resumed rocking the child back and forth in her arms and cooing down at him. Hershel made a more happy sound having his mother’s attention back on him and not the ninja worrying himself sick beside them.

Still rocking Hershel, she implored Paul, “It’s almost 4 o’clock in the morning. Go home and get some sleep. You can’t go looking for him if you’re two seconds away from collapsing from exhaustion.”

“You’re awake.”

“Hershel’s awake so, I’m awake. Trust me, I’d rather be sleeping right now. It’s the curse of parenthood. Well, that and changing poopy diapers.”

Paul laughed, he could always count on Maggie to help him relax. He could tell she was worried about the team as well, she was just better at hiding it. She was trying to stay positive and strong for Paul because she understood, more than most, how hard it was to lose her husband on a run.

“Even if I went home and got in bed, I won’t be able to sleep with Daryl gone for so long. Might as well stay here and help you with him. Want me to rock him for a bit?”

“Sure.”

Maggie carefully handed Hershel over to Paul and the baby squirmed at being moved from his comfy position in his mother’s arms. Once he was settled into Paul’s arms he quieted down as Paul rocked him back and forth.

“You’d make a great father, you know.”

“What gives you that impression?”

“The way you handle him with such care and love. It’s easy to picture you as a Dad. I’ve often thought the same about Daryl. For the first few weeks of Judith’s life, he was her main caregiver. He was the only one that could calm her when she cried, he was the first one to ever feed her, and - while he’ll never admit it out loud - he simply liked spending time holding her. Without a doubt, Daryl with children is one of the most pure and adorable sights I have ever seen.”

“He would make a great father, but I guess godfathers will have to do. Not many options for adoption anymore and last I check neither of us can have babies.”

Maggie giggled, “Yeah. Did you ever consider it before the turn? Adopting a child with someone and raising him or her? I know Daryl did, but didn’t because of his lifestyle.”

“Daryl told you he’d thought about adopting a kid?”

“Yeah, it was shortly after Beth died. We were sitting on the porch of my house in Alexandria when he told me.”

* * *

“Daryl, I’m scared. What if this place doesn’t last and we have to move again?” Maggie broke the silence as she slowly rocked back and forth in the rocking chair on the porch of her and Glenn’s new home.

“Why you worrying about that? That’s normally my job,” Daryl said taking a drink from the water bottle he’d picked up on a run last week.

“I don’t know...”

“Yes, you do. Spit it out. What’s worrying you? Do I need to kick someone’s ass? Not that you can’t do it yourself...”

“No, it’s not anything like that,” Maggie assured him, the last thing she wanted to do was set Daryl on a warpath against Gabriel because of the comments she’d overheard earlier.

She wrung her hands a bit, debating over whether or not she should tell Daryl, she hadn’t even told Glenn yet.

“I’m pregnant.”

Daryl choked on his water and started coughing up a storm. Maggie just waited, frozen in place, for his response.

Once his coughing attack subsided, he spoke, “Congratulations! How far along are you?”

“About a month, I think. Picked up some pregnancy tests on the last run. A few of them hadn’t expired yet and all three came out positive.”

“That’s awesome! Why are you worried?” Daryl asked.

“Because what if this place falls? I could end up like Lori and leave my baby motherless. It would crush Glenn if he lost me.”

“It would crush all of us, but I’ll tell you now, I ain’t letting nothing happen to you or your baby. Even if I have to help Rick take this place by force. We’re staying.”

Maggie reached across the space between their chairs, “Thank you, Daryl.”

It was quiet again between them for a while. Maggie thought about his reaction to her announcement despite the obvious worry that seeped into his eyes when she mention Lori. Daryl always has been so good with Judith and Carl; it made her wonder.

“Did you have kids before this?”

Daryl almost choked on his drink again, “Ahem, no. I didn’t. My lifestyle with Merle wouldn’t have been a good environment for a child. Besides, I never would’ve gotten approved for adoption anyway.”

Maggie nodded, the life of a drug dealer - even if he wasn’t the one dealing - wouldn’t have been a good situation to place a child in.

“Did you ever want kids?” she asked, rubbing her hand over her belly.

“I mean yeah, I guess. I’ve always loved kids. Would’ve been nice to get the chance to get some out of bad situations since I won’t be having any of my own, but my life wouldn’t have been much of a step in the right direction.”

Maggie nodded, “Glenn and I have been trying for a family for a little while now. We’ve even already talked about who we want the baby’s godparents to be.”

“Oh yeah, who? Rick and Michonne?”

“Nope,” Maggie rubbed her hands in circles over her belly, “You.”

Daryl sat straight up, “Me?!?”

“Why do you sound so surprised? You’re great with Judith and Carl and you just said you love kids,” Maggie smirked at her own ingenuity.

“You set me up.”

“Yes, I did. Do you accept?”

Daryl thought for a moment, his eyes flickering back and forth between her stomach and her face, “Yeah, I do.”

Maggie stood up and reached down to hug Daryl, “Thank you,” and kissed him on the cheek just like Carol likes to do. They sat together for a while longer, until it got too chilly for her comfort and said goodnight. She noticed the whole time they sat there though, Daryl hadn’t been able to wipe the smile and look of pride, happiness, and contentment off his face.

* * *

“Wow. I never knew. Probably because I’ve never brought it up,” Paul shrugged, Hershel was finally starting to fall back to sleep in his arms, “But I guess you’ll have to do, huh buddy? No adoption agencies around anymore.”

Hershel let out a tired hum in response before drifting off to sleep.

BANG!

Hershel immediately was wide awake again and started bawling.

“Damn it!” Maggie groaned, “give him here and go kick the ass of whoever caused this.”

“Sure thing,” Paul agreed, handing the screaming child over to his mother.

He had just about made it to the door when Kal came bursting through it, “They’re back!”

“Shut up! You’re scaring the baby,” Paul scolded, even though he was beyond relieved Daryl was home, “What was that loud bang?”

“Oh, heh, I tripped going up the stairs. I knew how anxious you were about them. John’s letting them in through the gate now. They’re in a different car, so something must’ve happened.”

Paul rolled his eyes before quickly leaving the room and making his way outside to greet Daryl. He smiled when he saw Daryl step out of the car, then he saw the blood. Daryl’s shirt was in pieces wrapped around his mid thigh and his upper arm. There was blood all over his jeans and lower belly.

“Oh my god!” Paul shouted and then sprinted towards Daryl and wrapping his arms around him, holding him tight against his chest.

“What happened? Where are Diane and Jack?”

“They’re dead. Killed by a gang of bikers we ran into on the road,” Daryl said quietly, not wanting to alarm the people around them more than they already were.

He was already lucky that Diane’s sister and Jack’s fiancé were visiting the Kingdom today. It would give him time to figure out the best way to tell them their loved ones were gone.

“I’ll explain it later,” Daryl reassured him, “there’s a more urgent matter at hand.”

Paul pulled back from Daryl slightly to look at him, “What’s that? Other than getting your ass to the medical trailer pronto.”

“This,” Daryl said and released Paul completely ducking back into the car and producing a sleeping baby.

“Uh... Daryl, where did you get a baby?”

Paul was dumbfounded was the presence of the tiny bundle wrapped in a dark blue blanket calmly sucking on an orange binky in Daryl’s arms. Her head was covered in wisps of dark brown hair contrasting beautifully with the paleness of her skin.

“Just before the bikers showed up, a man ran out of the woods and tried to ask for help. The bikers shot him and then Diane and Jack. Later, the bikers caught up to me and tried to kill me, but I ran into the woods and stumbled across an old hunting cabin. Inside was a woman whose husband was the man we’d seen earlier on the road. She went into labor and something went very wrong, I had to cut the baby out of her. I never even learned her name.”

“Oh my god,” Paul breathed, looking down at the baby in shock, “What are we going to do with her?”

“Daryl!” Siddiq called running up to them.

He did a double take when he saw the baby in Daryl’s arms, but brushed it off for now, he had to get those meds to his patients. So far there had already been five deaths and he didn’t want to lose any more.

“Meds?”

“Backseat.”

“Thanks,” Siddiq said before grabbing the basket of meds and sprinting back to the medical trailer.

“So... the baby?” Paul prompted.

“I was hoping you’d be willing to help me raise her as our own. She’s got no one and her father’s an asshole.”

“I thought you said her father was dead?”

“It’s complicated, I’ll explain later. How’s Maggie and the baby?”

“They’re good. Baby Hershel was born yesterday and he and Maggie are in perfect health. Why don’t we go back to our trailer and you can get a shower while I watch... what’s her name?”

“Don’t have a name yet, just been calling her Baby. Figured you might want to help me pick it out.”

“Yeah, wow. I’m just shocked. Of all the things I thought you’d bring home, a baby was definitely not on that list.”

“So, you don’t want to keep her?” Daryl looked crestfallen.

“No! No! No! I want to keep her, I’m just still trying to process the fact we have a daughter now.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot,” Daryl said looking relieved that Paul wasn’t rejecting his proposal of raising this child together.

Paul gently placed his hand on Daryl’s back and started walking them towards their trailer.

“Wait, can you grab the bassinet basket I took from the daycare I went to from the trunk of the car? The formula and bottles too, please?” Daryl asked, handing him the keys to the car.

“Sure, I’ll meet you there.”

Paul quickly made his way around the back of the car and popped the trunk. Inside was a bassinet made from woven wood and covered in plush, light blue material. It was filled to the brim with everything they’d need to start caring for a baby. They’d have to find more formula soon, but maybe Maggie would agree to breastfeed their little girl, too. It would definitely be healthier than feeding her outdated formula, but this stuff would do for now. Paul grabbed the basket and made his way over to his trailer.

When he stepped inside he was greeted with the sight of Daryl rocking Baby back and forth in his arms, softly cooing at her as she giggled. She must have woken up when Daryl brought her inside. Daryl seemed to have failed to notice his presence so he took a moment to appreciate the sight. _Yes, you’re going to make a great Dad, Daryl Dixon._

Paul finally made his presence known by clearing his throat and Daryl looked sheepishly over at him, slightly embarrassed he hadn’t noticed him come in. Normally nothing got by him, but he’d let himself get lost in the little girl’s bright green eyes.

“Here, let me put all of this stuff down in our room and get you some clean clothes. Sit down at the kitchen table and get off that leg, we can wipe it down later,” Paul said, disappearing into their bedroom.

Daryl carefully lowered himself into one of the kitchen chairs, he knew he needed to rest his leg. It had hurt like hell and forced him to limp his way from the car to the trailer. Baby stretched and flailed her arms up by her her and let out a satisfied hum as she settled deeper against his chest. His heart was full of so much love for the tiny bundle in his arms, he could barely breathe.

She was so unbelievably adorable that Daryl hadn’t even been able to get when she’d pooped in her original blanket on their way back to Hilltop. He’s simply put the car in park, unwrapped the blanket and used the clean parts of it to wipe her butt and then rewrapped her in a new blanket he’d taken from the daycare. He’d thought about stopping to change her into a diaper, but he’d only had managed to find three and it was a bit late at that point. He’d have to ask Maggie for some of hers until he could find more or come up with a suitable substitute.

Paul came out of the bedroom carrying new clothes and a first aid kit, “Here, I’ll take her and you go shower and patch yourself up.”

“Sure, but she needs a bath first. Still got some birth blood on her since I didn’t have access to a water source all that much.”

“Sure, want me to help?”

“Yeah, grab an extra wash cloth and meet en in the bathroom,” Daryl said standing up and making his way to the bathroom.

* * *

“Sydney?” Paul asked, pouring a little water over Baby’s belly to wash the soap off as Daryl held her against his chest in the tub.

Daryl had stripped and climbed into the tub in order to enable them to clean her easier without getting water all over the place. They also needed to find some soap specially designed for babies, actually they just needed a baby themed run in the next few days. But not until they’d figured out the whole biker situation Daryl had told him about.

“Nah, my brother once tried to get me to have sex with a girl named Sydney. She was a bitch and ugly as shit, not naming our beautiful daughter that. Ashley?”

“No way, Ashly was the name of the bossy head of my group home. Grace?”

“To go with your Jesus? No thanks,” Daryl joked as he used one hand to gently massage the shampoo and conditioner combo they used out of her hair.

“Ha ha,” Paul smiled, looking down at Baby trying to think of a good name.

“What about Paula?”

“Absolutely not and you know exactly why.”

“Just a suggestion,” Daryl said feigning innocence, he knew Paul would never go for it considering how close it was to Paul.

Paul stood up to fetch one of the books he’d left lying on the counter that morning and flipped through it, “How about Dorry?”

“That forgetful, blue and yellow fish from that one movie about a clown fish? Fuck no. Godiva? I know that from somewhere...” Daryl carefully stood up and walked over to the counter to dry Baby off.

“Yeah, a gourmet chocolate bar,” Paul laughed.

“Oh,” Daryl said distracted by Baby.

Paul handed Daryl one of the few diapers they had and watched carefully as Daryl put it on her, “you know, we could just name her Baby.”

“She ain’t Baby Driver so no.”

“Darylina?” Paul asked smirking.

Daryl didn’t even dignify that with a response he just glared at him.

“Alright, alright, but seriously, what are we going to name her?”

“I know what her middle name should be,” Daryl offered.

“What?”

“Sasha.”

Paul nodded, “You know Sasha means protector or defender, so what about Astrid? Astrid means divine strength.”

“Astrid Sasha Rovia, I like it,” Daryl nodded, scooping her up into his arms, “you’re going to grow up to be one badass woman, you know that?”

Astrid giggled and raised her tiny fist to try and grab ahold of Daryl’s hair, but he managed to evade her grasp.

“Dixon.”

“Huh?”

“Why my last name and not yours?”

“Because I hate my last name, anyone with the last name of Dixon was regarded as a worthless piece of shit in the town where I grew up. I’d like for the name to die with me, I don’t want it passed on.”

Paul didn’t try to argue with him, he just kissed him, “Well, I guess that’s settled then.”

“Want to hold her?”

“Oh yes please. Come here little one,” Paul said opening his arms for Daryl to hand Baby... Astrid over to him.

Once she was settled against his chest, Paul leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“Welcome home, Astrid Sasha Rovia,” he whispered before reaching his head up to kiss his wonderful, loving boyfriend again.

* * *

He left Daryl in the bathroom to wash up and clean and bandage his wounds properly while he spent time with Astrid. Paul laughed when she grabbed his finger and tried to stick it into her mouth and kissed her forehead when she laughed as he lightly tickled her belly. She was perfect and he was already deeply in love with her. He never thought he’d get the chance to be a Dad, yet here he was rocking his daughter back and forth while his amazing boyfriend showered in the next room. It was a dream come true, he had no idea how this day could possibly get any better.

He heard the bathroom door open and Daryl limped out throwing his bloody clothes in the trash before tying the trash bag off and throwing it out the back door to take somewhere else later. Daryl slowly made his way over to the couch where Paul was sitting holding their new baby girl. It was a beautiful sight to see Paul enjoying himself with Astrid.

“Hey Paul, gotta ask you something,” his voice shook slightly from nervousness and Paul easily picked up on it as always.

He’d thought a lot about what he was about to say while he was in the shower. It wasn’t a new train of thought, it had just gotten a lot clearer with the introduction of Astrid into their lives. He wanted this very badly now and he prayed Paul would accept his request.

“What?”

“We gave our daughter the name Rovia and I’ve been thinking, actually for a few weeks now, that I’d like us to have the same last name.”

Paul’s jaw dropped and he struggled to speak, “Are you... asking to just use my last name or...?”

Daryl caressed Paul’s cheek with one of his hands, “Paul, we’ve been together for a year now and wasting time in the apocalypse is a dumbass thing to do so yeah, Paul, will you marry me?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and Commends are greatly appreciated. <3


	7. The Hellblazers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble comes to Hilltop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Let me know what you think’s gonna happen next! I love to hear from my readers. :D
> 
> For the bikers I drew on some Sons of Anarchy inspiration. ;)

Paul couldn’t speak, he just nodded his head adamantly, his eyes tearing up. Daryl reached out and pulled him into a strong embrace while still being mindful of Astrid who was tucked in the crook of Paul’s right arm.

“I ain’t got no rings yet and I don’t really want a ceremony. Maggie and Glenn didn’t when they got married. They just walked into breakfast the next morning announced their marriage. Basically, I’d just like everyone to know my name’s Daryl Rovia now and that we’re husbands.”

Paul leaned back and kisses Daryl with as much love and passion as he could muster. If he wasn’t holding Astrid right now, he’d have already climbed into his lap to let him know exactly how much he liked the idea.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Paul whispered when he broke the kiss, “I love you, Daryl Rovia.”

“I love you too, Paul Rovia.”

“Interesting fact, Rovia wasn’t the name I had at birth.”

“Really? What was is?”

“Monroe. I changed it as soon as I aged out of the system and they told me why I was put in the system.”

“What happened?”

“My parents were apparently a couple in their mid twenties that don’t believe in abortion, but didn’t want to raise a kid. They got rid of me because they wanted to, not because they couldn’t take care of me. I hated them in that moment. I was a burden to them, so they abandoned me. So, I changed my name because I have no interest having anything to do with them.”

Daryl kissed Paul on the forehead and rubbed his back comfortingly, “How’d you come up with Rovia?”

Paul huffed out a laugh, “I flipped through a phone book until I came across a name that I thought sounded kinda cool. So, Rovia, the name of a travel agency, it was. I’d always wanted to travel around the world, but I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to afford it for some time, so the idea of being named after a travel agency was about as close as I could get at the time.”

Astrid let out an indignant noise to let her parents know they were ignoring her and she didn’t like it. Paul laughed and lifted her up to his face to kiss her tiny forehead.

“Come on, let’s go see Maggie. I’d like to meet my new godson,” Daryl said, letting Astrid grab hold of his finger with one of her little hands.

* * *

“Oh my god!” Maggie’s jaw dropped when Daryl walked in carrying a baby, “how... what... when?”

“Bit of a long story, but I met this woman running from some bad people. She went into labor and it went wrong, she died minutes after I had to use my knife to cut the baby out.”

“Oh no, you alright?”

“Yeah, a bit banged up, but I’ll live,” Daryl said walking over and sitting down in the chair next to Maggie’s bed.

“What’s her name?”

“Astrid Sasha Rovia.”

“I love it, Sasha would be honored to have this little one named in her honor. May I hold her? I’m sure you’d like to meet your godson now anyway.”

“Absolutely,” Daryl grinned handing Astrid carefully over into Maggie’s outstretched arms.

Paul had come in and went straight to Hershel’s crib and lifted the baby out and into his arms. Hershel squirmed a bit in his arms and giggled when Paul used his finger to tickle his belly. He watched Daryl had their daughter over to Maggie and walked forward to give Hershel to him.

“Look who it is Hershel, it’s your uncle Daryl,” Paul said placing the baby in Daryl’s arms.

“His full name is Hershel Glenn Rovia Rhee,” Maggie added.

”Rovia? That’s awesome.”

Paul smiled down at the baby in Daryl’s arms. Hershel squealed in excitement as he looked up into the face of his godfather. Daryl let the baby play with and suck on his fingers while Maggie did the same with Astrid.

“ _Damn, my family is amazingly perfect,_ ” Paul thought, “ _I don’t know which one to cuddle with first.”_

Paul crawled onto the bed next to Maggie and used of the toys they’d found for Hershel to entertain his daughter. Her laughter sounded like the light jingling of bells. He loved her and Hershel so much and he’d only known Hershel for about a day and Astrid for even less. Still, he’d take a bullet for everyone in this room without thinking twice about it.

Suddenly, shouting erupted from down below through the open window. Daryl and Maggie looked up from playing with the babies and looked at Paul in question. He got up and made his way over to the window and peered out. He didn’t see anything wrong so he opened the window and climbed out onto the roof to get a better look ignore Daryl’s exacerbated shout behind him to stop and just go out the front door. _But what’s the fun in that?_

Paul carefully made his way across the small rooftop to try to identify the reason for the shouting. Then he saw it, just outside the gate sat a group of about 25 bikers heavily armed and ready to shoot. He wondered if they were the same bikers that Daryl had met on the road. 25 bikers wasn’t that big of a threat, but everyone at Hilltop, including Daryl, had taken a stance of only killing when absolutely necessary and Paul didn’t think this gang was going to go quietly. Especially if they found out they have one of their member’s daughter.

“Shit! Daryl, I think it’s that biker gang you met on the road!” he called back through the open window.

“Fuck, go get someone to watch the kids so that Maggie and I can get down there to help deal with it.”

“Sure thing, babe. We’ll tell Maggie the other news later.”

“What other news!” Maggie demanded.

But Paul ignored her and bent down to lower himself down the side of Barrington.

“Paul! For fucks sake just use the goddamn door!” Daryl called after him.

Paul laughed as he slid the rest of the way down the column and quickly made his way towards Enid.

“Enid, do me a favor and go up to Maggie’s room and watch the babies for us?”

“Babies?!? She had two? She only had one this morning,” she looked extremely confused.

“Yes, babies. The boy, Hershel, is Maggie’s and the girl, Astrid, is mine and Daryl’s.”

Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, “What?”

“He found her on the run, the mother died in childbirth so he brought her back here, now go!” Paul quickly explained.

Enid nodded and took off running for the house as Paul took off towards the main gate. He climbed up the ladder to stand next to Kal.

“What’s gone on so far?” he asked as soon as he reached the top.

“They keep demanding that we turn over some woman named, Hannah. We don’t have a Hannah here. We had a Havana, but she died during the war.”

“Astrid’s mom...”

“Who?”

“Uh... Daryl ran into these people on the road. They killed Diane and Jack and then they tried to kill him, but he escaped. He ran into a woman in some cabin and she died in childbirth while he was there. He brought the baby back here and we decided to adopt her and named her Astrid.”

“Damn, he had one hell of a trip. Diane and Jack will be missed, they were good people.”

“Yeah, Maggie and Daryl should be on their way down now. I’d prefer for Maggie to stay safely in bed, but I know that’s not going to happen.”

Just then they heard someone... actually toe people climbing up the ladder behind them; most likely Daryl and Maggie.

“What’s the situation?”

_Yep, he was right. No way Maggie is going to stay out of this one._

“Bunch of bikers causing trouble,” Kal responded and filled her in on what had gone down so far.

The bikers had rolled up to the gate despite warnings from their guards to back off and fired off three rounds, injuring one of the guards, Susan. The guy Kal assumed to be their leaders started demanding that they open the gates and let them pass because they think Hilltop is harboring Hannah and her child. Technically, they’re not totally wrong because they do have Hannah’s daughter here.

“Daryl, are those the guys that tried to kill you?” Maggie asked.

Daryl’s face darkened when he saw them, “Yeah. They’re bad people, at least the leader is.”

“What makes you so sure that it’s mainly the leader?”

“I know who these people are from before the turn. I didn’t recognize them until now because I hadn’t gotten a look at them until now.”

“Really?!?” Paul was shocked.

“Yeah, Merle used to run with them. Their cuts give them away.”

“Cuts?” Maggie asked confused.

“Their leather jackets. Each gang has a different cut so that rival gangs can tell each other apart. Their symbol is a flaming skull with a rose and gun lying in an X underneath it. They call themselves the Hellblazers and before the turn they dealt mainly in hard drugs and prostitution. Members got free sex and drugs as long as they earned enough by marketing and selling their products. I knew the name Damien Lane sounded familiar.”

“HEY!” Damien shouted, “cut the shit. Where’s Hannah?”

“She ain’t here, fuckface!” Daryl yelled back.

“Wait a goddamn minute, I know you,” one of the bikers yelled, “You’re Merle’s brother.”

The leader walked closer to the gate, “Well, I’ll be damned, it is Daryl.”

Paul looked over at Daryl and he looked pissed. Daryl obviously did not like being called out by the bikers. He hated remembering his past life before the turn because he was ashamed of it.

“Daryl, you were never a part of this gang, were you?” Paul asked.

“I wasn’t, officially, but Merle was. Although, I was with Merle, so sometimes I got dragged into some of their activities, especially when it was Merle’s ass on the line because he’d managed to fuck something up.”

Paul nodded, he was glad Daryl had never been officially part of the gang. It’s not like he could hold it against him, Paul himself had engaged in less than legal activities to survive after he aged out of the group home. But, he figured, in a weird way, he should be thankful for this gang’s appearance because, after all, without them they wouldn’t have ever gotten the chance to adopt Astrid.

“We ain’t got all day! Where’s Hannah!?!” Damien demanded from below.

“We don’t know anyone named Hannah you assholes, now get lost!” Daryl harshly responded.

“Now Daryl, is that any way to talk to an old friend?”

“You’re not my friend, you never were. Merle was part of your gang and I was loyal to my brother. Our connection died the second you turned my brother over to save your own skin. Now get out of here before I put an bolt though your eye.”

“You wouldn’t,” Damien brushed off his threat, he obviously had no intention of backing down.

“ _Try me._ ”

Daryl grabbed one of the crossbows stowed on the platforms and quickly shot a bolt into the tire of one of the biker’s bikes.

“Hey! Watch it asshole!” shouted the biker.

“I did, next one goes through your head if you don’t get out of here.”

“Daryl...” Maggie warned quietly.

“I know,” he assured her softly, “no killing unless absolutely necessary. Most of the guys I recognize are cowards. They’ll back off before it gets ugly.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Daryl turned his attention back to the gang, “We have a lot of firepower here and we’re not afraid to use it. Now leave, before this gets any worse.”

As he spoke, Paul, Kal, Maggie and a few others grabbed some of the assault rifles kept on the platform and aimed them at the bikers. Damien looked warily at the line of guns and motioned for his gang to head out.

“Don’t get too comfortable; we repay blood with blood. Hannah killed one of our bikers to escape, so we will be back for her. I suggest you think about turning her over next time.”

“We told you, we don’t have anyone here named Hannah!” Paul shouted.

“Then she’s using a false name. She doesn’t know how to fight and one of our women found out she was pregnant, that’s probably why she ran. She wouldn’t have gotten very far on her own and we’ve been tracking her for months. So, we’ll be back and you’d best turn her over when we do because if you don’t, we’ll blow this place sky high,” Damien threatened before starting his bike and leading the gang away.

“What do we do now?” Kal asked turning to Maggie.

“Honestly, I don’t know. We want them gone, but I’d like to avoid further bloodshed. We’ll think of something. We always do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated! <3


	8. Fire!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again, for the lovely comments and encouragement. :D
> 
> WARNING: some homophobic language

It was over 3 weeks after the initial appearance of the bikers that Daryl was woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of gunfire. Immediately alert, he sat up and did a quick check of his surroundings. Paul was still next to him and he could see Astrid in her bassinet. As if on que, Astrid woke up from the noise and started screaming. Her screams finally roused Paul from his sleep. Sometimes Daryl was sure the man could sleep through his own house burning down.

“What the...” Paul asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Sounds like the bikers are back and they woke up Astrid,” Daryl explained as he crawled out of bed to get her.

“Should one of us stay here?” Paul asked.

“Probably, if they break through our defenses...” Daryl trailed off, unable to fully voice his concerns without having a full blown panic attack.

“You should go, I’ll stay here. I’m better in hand to hand combat anyway, Maggie needs you for pinpoint accuracy in shooting since she only wants us to injure them, not to kill them.”

“Yeah, makes sense. Here,” Daryl said handing the screaming baby over to Paul before turning to get dressed.

He quickly threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirts before sliding on his shoes and lacing them up quickly and rather sloppily. He kissed Paul and Astrid goodbye before grabbing his crossbow and bolting out the door. The courtyard was in chaos as fire and smoke bombs rained down on it from above. Fuckers had managed to climb on top of their building equipment and shoot from above. There were people everywhere, all of them focusing fire on taking down the bombers.

It’s not like they explode or anything, they just make it extremely hard to breathe and see. He’d seen them use this technique before with Merle against at a rival gang’s clubhouse. Daryl grabbed onto the side of the trailer and pulled himself up to the roof to escape the smoke. He carefully aimed one of his bolts at the man in the crane and fired. The man fell with a scream of pain into the courtyard with a bolt jutting out of his upper thigh.

The bikers had returned just like they promised they would about a week after that first confrontation and demanded Hannah and the child, they assumed she had given birth to it at this point, to be turned over to them. When Maggie again told them they didn’t have her and they refused to believe them, they promised to return again and basically declared war on Hilltop. To them, Hilltop was just another rival gang that they needed to put in their place.

A smoke bomb landed on the roof of the trailer and Daryl immediately kicked the smoking ball off the trailer to keep the smoke from getting in the vents of the trailer. He immediately started looking around for the other bomber. His attention focused fully on bringing them down. Just as he caught sight of her atop the catwalk where they were working on expanding the wall he felt a searing pain erupt in his shoulder and he yelled out. Blood started running down his arm from the bullet wound just below his collar bone on his shoulder.

He turned around quickly and caught sight of a small group of bikers making their way into the fray on the far end of the compound undetected. Immediately he called out a warning to the others and tried to lift his crossbow, but found himself unable to do so with his injured shoulder. It was the same damn shoulder Dwight had shot him in earlier and it had never fully healed right either from lack of care. This time his shoulder could really be ruined, but he ignored the pain and grabbed the rifle Paul stored on the roof and started firing off shots at the small group.

Two of the went down almost immediately as the others scrambled for cover. More people started firing at them and he caught sight of Maggie yelling orders and shooting from the balcony of Barrington. He was glad she was staying out of the thickest of the fighting because he knew she wouldn’t keep out of it completely. He saw her turn her head back towards the house and call to someone inside. Enid must be guarding the door to her room since he could see Kal on the wall shooting down onto the bikers below.

Gritting his teeth, Daryl raised the gun and found the bomber once again. He fired and the woman screamed and dropped the fire bomb she was holding, with what appeared to be pair of fire tongs, to grab her arm. He fired again, the bullet catching her in her other hand. There was no way was she going to be dropping more smoke bombs now, so he turned his attention to the bikers that had or are trying to break through their defenses.

For such a small group going against a bigger, more powerful community, they were making some serious headway. Not enough to win, but a good effort that was just enough to cause some major damage to their community. Daryl knew his people weren’t aiming to kill, which put them at a disadvantage to the bikers who were aiming to kill. He could see some of his community members on the ground, not moving and it made his heart ache, but he had to keep fighting.

He heard someone climb up onto the trailer with him and he turned and came face to face with Damien Lane’s right hand man, Shawn. His eyes were just as cold as Daryl remembered, his brown hair sticking up all over the place with blood smeared across the left side of his face. His smile was cruel and the blade he held in his hand was wicked sharp with serrated edges. Getting stabbed with that would cause even more damage to the victim than a normal knife. Daryl swallows and immediately raised his gun.

“Where’s the girl?” He demanded.

“She ain’t here, we told you that! Just leave and we’ll let you live.”

“Not gonna happen, we repay blood with blood and since you wouldn’t let us do that with Hannah, your community will pay the price.”

“You’re insane,” Daryl growled, thankful Shawn had chosen to come up here and confront him instead of go inside to where Paul was protecting Astrid.

He was so focused on Shawn, he didn’t notice the man slowly crawling up his neighbor’s trailer and aiming his gun at Daryl.

“Hey, Dixon!” the biker yelled to pull Daryl’s attention off of Shawn.

Unwavered, Daryl dropped to the roof of the trailer and fired off a shot at Shawn’s shin, forcing the man down, before turning quicker than lightning and nailing the other guy in the right shoulder, making him drop his gun.

“The name’s Rovia, asshole,” Daryl called out and shot him again, this time in the leg.

He gazed shifted back to Shawn only to see him gone. Daryl growled and slammed his fist into the roof in anger. That psycho was almost as bad as Damien and he was pissed he got away. Daryl pushed it out of his mind and turned back to the fight.

* * *

Paul carefully cradled Astrid to his chest, trying to keep her crying quiet as to not alert anyone outside to their presence. They’d probably see them as an easy target and not hesitate to come after them. He heard Daryl, at least he hoped it was Daryl, climb up onto the roof of the trailer as Paul worked to barricade the door to their room. He could hear the battle raging outside and he heard Daryl shout in pain and it took all of his self control not to burst outside to help him, but he had Astrid to worry about and Daryl could take care of himself, he hoped. He didn’t know how long it was before he heard someone else climbed onto the roof and he could hear voices as Daryl spoke to whomever it was on their roof.

He heard two gunshots in quick succession and a body his the roof, Paul held his breath and waited praying to hear Daryl’s voice.

“The name’s Rovia, asshole!” he heard Daryl yell and Paul breathed a sigh of relief.

His relief was short lived as he heard someone break into their trailer. He could tell by the rhythm of the steps that whoever it was had a really bad limp, probably from being shot. Paul lowered his breathing and placed Astrid in her crib. He pulled his blades out of their sheaths and stood ready at the door. Now, he loved his daughter, but she had chosen the worst time to start crying at the loss of contact with him.

He heard he man freeze before his uneven footsteps started moving closer to their door. Paul knew that if he had to he would have no problem killing this person to protect his daughter. Paul carefully rubbed the knives in his hands, waiting for the man to get to the door as Astrid screamed in her crib. Without warning, two shots came through the door, it wasn’t the toughest door. Paul did his best to keep his breathing low as the door was shoved open and a man stepped in, his gaze focused on Astrid and completely missed Paul’s presence. Paul caught sight of the wicked knife he was holding, serrated edges and it appeared to be freshly sharpened.

Paul jumped into action, kicking the man onto the ground and throwing a knife at him. The man shifted causing the blade to only slightly cut his arm instead of embedding itself into his bicep. The man turned around and jumped up quicker than Paul could react. The man clearly had martial arts training and was good at it despite the obvious fresh bullet wound on his lower leg. Both he and Paul jumped into action, kicks and punching each other wildly in a deadly dance around the room.

His knife caught Paul on the side and the pain forced him to double over. The man then delivered a fierce blow to his chest knocking him backwards next to the crib. Paul scrambled to get up and grabbed the handgun Daryl had attached to the underside of Astrid’s crib right after the bikers had declared war on Hilltop. The man looked slightly shocked at the sudden appearance of the gun and stopped in his tracks.

“Get out and I promise to spare your life,” Paul said, moving his body in front of Astrid’s crib, she was still crying.

The man paused to look around the room, obviously confident Paul wasn’t going to shoot him. His gaze landed on the polaroid Maggie had taken of him, Daryl and Astrid the day after they brought her home.

“That man your boyfriend?” the man asked.

“Husband.”

“Huh. And that little baby is yours?”

“Yes. Got a problem with that?” Paul bit back.

“I alway had a feeling that Daryl was a faggot.”

Paul grew even angrier at the used of the slur, but held his fire. He’d promised Maggie to only shoot if absolutely necessary and even if this guy was being a complete homophobic dick, didn’t give him a pass to shoot him.

“Maybe y’all were telling the truth, maybe Hannah ain’t here,” the man mused aloud.

“We already told you she wasn’t here.”

“Well, she may not be, but it looks to me like her baby sure is.”

Paul’s face paled, _fuck, he’d figured it out._

“So? Daryl told me you people hate kids, why not let us keep her?”

“Because we repay blood with blood and that little bitch right there,” the man said, a cruel edge to his voice, “has the blood of the woman we’re looking for.”

“Over my dead body,” Paul growled.

“Works for me,” the man said and suddenly ducked and rolled out of Paul’s line of fire.

The man whipped out his own gun mid-roll and fired the second he was on his feet. Paul shouted as the bullet impaled itself in his side, right above the knife wound he’d received earlier. Paul gripped the side of the crib to keep himself upright and moved his gun and fired off a series of rounds until he heard a body hit the floor. He turned his gaze to look at the man, he was dead with a bullet wound right between his eyes.

Paul breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the floor, his hand moving to press onto his bullet wound. He pulled off his shirt and did his best to bandage his wounds. He stood and peered into the crib and reached down to comfort Astrid, rubbing his least bloody hand over her tummy and letting her hold his finger. Her crying slowly subsided as he caressed her, ignoring his own pain and need to rest. He was immediately back in fighting mode as he heard someone else enter the trailer.

“PAUL!” Daryl called out from the other room.

Paul slumped down onto the crib in relief, “In here!” he called back.

He heard Daryl quickly sprint into their room and take in the scene and Paul’s appearance and Paul took in his.

Paul’s shirt was wrapped around his stomach, one side drenched with blood. Shawn’s body lay still on the floor with a bullet wound in his head. Paul took note of the bullet wound in Daryl’s bad shoulder and smiled lightly as Daryl walked closer to him. He pulled Paul against his chest carefully, letting Paul put a majority of his weight on him, “are you two okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll live and she’s fine. He didn’t get to her.”

“Good,” Daryl said and kissed him.

“He figured it out, he figured out that Astrid is Hannah’s daughter.”

“It’s a good thing he’s dead then, he can’t tell anyone.”

That’s when they heard Shawn’s radio crackle and Damien’s voice came through, “you sure about that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated! <3


	9. Guilt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn’t want to deal with Negan again in this story, so I decided they’d already taken care of him in this fic. It is talked about in this chapter, but not in depth.
> 
> WARNING: some homophobic language
> 
> Note: I write everything on my phone normally and autocorrect is not my friend. I try to proofread everything I write, but things always slip through. So please, bear with me, but feel free to let me know if there is a really bad mistake somewhere.

Daryl froze as he heard Damien’s voice come over the radio that was attached to Shawn’s belt. He had been so sure they were in the clear, only to have it all come crashing down the very next second.

“I am going to find that little bitch and I’m going to gut her just like I should’ve done to her whore mother,” Damien threatened.

“You stay away from her you psychotic bastard!” Daryl snarled.

“Not gonna happen, Dixon. Blood for blood. That’s our code,” Damien replied, “everyone listen up, converge on the trailers. Apparently Hannah ain’t here, but her daughter is and was adopted by a couple of fags. One of which is our old pal, Daryl Dixon. Kill them all.”

Confirmations from at least 15 bikers came over the radio. Daryl felt his heart drop into his stomach, even at full strength they couldn’t take on 15 people as heavily armed as they were. Both he and Paul were in no shape to fight, Paul needed immediate medical attention or he was going to bleed out and Daryl could barely shoot with the increasing pain mounting in his shoulder.

“We have to run,” Paul said, “we can’t win this fight. We’ll take Astrid, hotwire a car and escape to the Kingdom. It’s our best bet.”

Daryl nodded, “can you walk?”

“I think so. I think I can make it to a car at the very least. Doubt I’ll be able to drive it though.”

Daryl could hear the bikers approaching, they had to move now. Daryl reached inside the crib and scooped Astrid up into his arms and motioned for Paul to follow him out the back. The quietly slipped out of their trailer, making sure to keep to the darkest areas. It was still night, but the fire bombs were providing adequate lighting in certain places.

Paul stumbled and fell, hand flying to his injured side. Daryl paused and turned back to help him up, but Paul tried to wave him off.

“Go, I was wrong. I don’t think I can make it to the car. Go, save her. I’m not who they’re looking for,” he pleaded with Daryl.

“No, I’m not leaving you. These people will kill you the second they see you. They take what they want and they kill cause it’s fun. Don’t make me carry you. Take. My. Hand,” Daryl demanded.

Paul looked up at him and saw there was no way he was going to get Daryl to surrender this battle. Paul clasped his hand around Daryl’s outstretched forearm and pulled himself up. Daryl groaned in pain from holding Astrid with his bad shoulder, but he wasn’t going to leave Paul here to die. He threw Paul’s arm over his shoulder and stood.

Paul did his best not to put a lot of his weight against Daryl because he knew he was injured, too. But Paul was losing blood fast, the new movement wasn’t helping at all. Paul could feel his side getting covered in blood as he struggled to keep from slowing their pace down.

Paul could hear shouting behind him as the bikers converged on the trailers. They all should be empty since all of their residents are now trained in combat. They’d also practiced multiple evacuation drills, so as soon as the first shots were fired anyone who can’t fight get out of the trailers and barricade themselves in the underground room Maggie had order built.

Paul hadn’t evacuated because of the smoke and fire bombs, newborns were especially susceptible to smoke and he hadn’t wanted to risk it. He trusted his ability to defend himself, but now he wished he’d run with Astrid to the underground room. Maybe they wouldn’t have to flee like this if he had. Paul felt the crushing weight of guilt descend over him as Daryl dragged him in the direction of the cars.

They finally made it to the row of cars when they heard a shot and a bullet hole appeared in the door of the car directly in front of them. Daryl froze, Paul pretty much collapsed on the ground, unable to stand without Daryl’s support. Daryl’s veins were pumping with adrenaline as he drew his own handgun. He spun on the balls of his feet and shot the guy in the throat. He watched for a second as the man dropped his gun and grabbed his throat from which blood was pouring. Blood came out of his mouth and he fell flat on his face, dead.

Daryl didn’t let himself linger on it and instead turned back to the car, grabbed the keys from behind the front tire cover and unlocked the doors. He laid Astrid down on the backseat of the car before turning back to Paul.

His skin was pale, it was obvious how much blood he was losing. They needed to get to the Kingdom quick or Paul was going to die. They didn’t have time to stop or the necessary supplies for properly tending to his wounds. Daryl did his best to lift him up with his injured shoulder and place him in the car. Daryl removed his over shirt and secured it against Paul’s side before kissing his forehead.

Daryl took Astrid out of the back and handed her to Paul. He didn’t have time to install a car seat, so Paul was going to have to hold her. He strapped them both in and quickly made his way over the driver's seat and turned the car on. As soon as the car was started, Daryl hit the gas and went screaming out into the courtyard towards the open gate.

The bikers had opened the gate from the inside after taking out the guards, but now that was working to their advantage. He prayed Maggie, Hershel, and Enid would all be okay. All of the bikers converging on the trailers should make taking them down easier. They’d all be concentrating on finding him and Paul, not defending each other. He floored the gas and sped off towards the Kingdom, their last hope to save Paul. He also hoped that if the bikers didn’t find them and the baby at Hilltop, they would abandon it. And while that outcome seemed unlikely, hope was all Daryl had right now.

Daryl heard the roar of motorcycle engines behind him and when he looked in the rear view mirror, to his horror he saw a small gang of bikers following them.

“Damn it!” Daryl growled and pushed the car faster.

The sound of gunfire started up behind them and Daryl could hear the bullets hitting the back of the car. Daryl barley even slowed down as he turned left at the next intersection. He had never been so thankful for the lack of other cars on the road as he sped at breakneck speed for the Kingdom. He could see the bikers hunched down on their bikes as they did their best to keep up with him.

Next to him, Paul’s breathing was becoming increasingly shallow as they kept driving. Daryl worried he was going to lose his grip on Astrid, but when he looked over again, Paul was using what was left of his energy to keep Astrid safely on his lap. Daryl turned his attention back to the road and sent out silent prayers of desperation to keep his family safe.

By the time the gates of the Kingdom came into view Paul was struggling to stay conscious. The bikers were still behind them so Daryl leaned on the horn to alert the guards to the urgency of their situation. All of the Hilltop’s vehicles had a green stripe painted across the front so that the other communities could easily tell friend from foe. The guards seemed to have gotten his message as the gates started opening before he started getting too close. As Daryl neared them he began slowing down to avoid hurting anyone in his rush to get inside.

Daryl came to a stop just inside the gates and immediately jumped out of the car, “shut the gates and get down from there. They won’t hesitate to kill you!” Daryl commanded.

As the guards did as he said, Daryl rushed around to Paul’s side of the car gesturing urgently to one of the women standing near the car to come over. She came running over quickly as Daryl flung the car door open and took Astrid from Paul. He handed the baby to the woman and without bothering to explain leaned back over and grabbed Paul.

“Help me! He needs a doctor now,” he yelled to the others and a few women came over to help him get Paul to the medical building.

The doctor’s face paled when she saw them bring in Paul and immediately jumped into action. One of the nurses ushered him out of Paul’s room despite his protests and led him to another room to have his own shoulder looked at. The nurse, Julie she said her name was, had just finished cleaning the wound when Carol and Ezekiel came bursting into the room.

“Oh my god! Daryl what happened?” Carol immediately started questioning him.

Daryl gives them the quick version of events, “please, can you send a group to check on Hilltop? We had no choice but to leave.”

“I shall send a party to Hilltop immediately. Excuse me,” Ezekiel said before kissing Carol goodbye and disappearing out the door.

Daryl knew he should feel better now that they’d made it to the Kingdom, but he didn’t. He felt sick to his stomach with worry over Paul and guilt over abandoning Hilltop in the middle of a battle. But, however selfish it was, Paul was Daryl’s main concern. He didn’t think he’d be able to come back if he lost Paul. He’d lost so many people already, he wasn’t sure if Paul died today if he’d be able to continue living.

_How had everything managed to go to hell so quickly?_

“Daryl?” Carol asked softly.

“Hmmm?” Daryl hummed.

“Are you alright?”

Daryl looked up at her from the floor, “Is Paul out of surgery?”

“No...”

“Then no, I’m not alright. If he dies...,” Daryl’s voice shook at tears formed in the corner of his eyes and he was unable to continue.

Carol wrapped her arms around him and kissed his forehead.

“I love him, Carol,” Daryl whispered rubbing his head against Carol’s shoulder.

It was a gesture Daryl often exhibited at times of great distress or joy. Almost like a puppy looking for comfort or expressing excitement. Everyone that saw it thought it was adorable, but Daryl only really did it to Paul and Carol. They stayed locked in this embrace until the door opened again and the nurse walked in holding Astrid.

Daryl immediately sat up and reached for her. The nurse placed the small babe into his arms and gave him a warm bottle before leaving them alone with Carol. She also left a few small toys on the nightstand next to the bed. Astrid squirmed in his arms as he positioned himself against the headboard of the bed he was sitting on. He gently coaxed her to drink and he could feel Carol’s eyes on him as he did so.

“What? You’ve seen me feed a baby before,” Daryl said.

“I know. I remember that day very well. You were the only one able to calm her down. She screamed for hours until you picked her up.”

“I had the bottle.”

“Yes, but she quieted even before you gave her the bottle,” Carol smiled gently at the new baby in his arms.

“What’s her full name?” she asked.

“Astrid Sasha Rovia.”

“Rovia?”

“Yeah, gave her Paul’s last name. Didn’t want to pass on the Dixon name, too much heavy baggage comes with it for me to feel comfortable giving it to my daughter,” Daryl explained.

“Makes sense. I would never give any new child of mine the name Peletier either. Ed doesn’t deserve to be remembered.”

“Yeah. I guess Merle does for his actions right at the end, but the Dixon name doesn’t need to go on. Besides, it’s not my name anymore.”

Carol sat up straight, “What?!?”

Daryl smiled at her reaction, “My name’s Daryl Rovia now. Paul and I got married just like Maggie and Glenn, we just decided we were after I asked him.”

“When did this happen and who all knows?”

“It happened about three weeks ago. Paul and I told Maggie first. She was ecstatic over the news. I haven’t seen her smile that big for anyone or anything, except her son Hershel, since before Glenn died.”

“Why did you wait so long to come tell me?” she demanded, playfully poking his side.

“Hey! Was planning on it, but the bikers showed up the same day we got married. Maggie didn’t want to risk sending anyone out on the road to the other communities alone at the time. Didn’t want to alert the bikers to the other communities. Plus, she thought we’d be able to handle them on our own. I underestimated them. After Negan, I figured how bad could a relatively small group of bikers be?”

“Daryl Rovia, now you listen to me,” Carol said firmly, placing a finger under his chin and turning his face towards her, “don’t you dare think for one second any of this is your fault. You couldn’t have know how much damage they were capable of inflicting.”

“But I did,” Daryl countered, looking back down at Astrid, “I knew them before the turn.”

“Daryl...” Carol started, but was cut off my Astrid as Daryl lifted her up to his shoulder to burp her.

Still bare chested, Astrid spit up all over Daryl’s bareback.

“Oh pookie,” Carol giggled, “why didn’t you ask for a burping rag.”

“Forgot,” Daryl patted Astrid’s back gently keeping her upright, just like Maggie said to, “you mind getting something to clean that up with?”

“Sure thing,” Carol stood and made her way over to the medical table and came back with a small rag, probably meant for stopping blood flow.

Carol cleaned up all of the spit up off of Daryl and kissed Astrid on her head when she was done. The baby cooed at the attention and Carol knew she was already in love with new babe. Despite her efforts to keep away from children after losing Sophia, she kept finding herself surrounded by children and unable to keep her distance both physically and emotionally.

When Sophia walked out of that barn, Carol had vowed never to take on the responsibility of caring for another child out of fear of losing them just like she lost her own daughter. That vow was quickly shattered when Judith was born. She often found herself caring for the child when Rick and Daryl were busy. That it, until she taught Beth how to do it and handed the responsibility of caring for the child over to her, but Carol never stopped loving her. She also loved Carl, but she’d never had to directly care for him. It was broken again with Lizzie and Mika, but so quickly reinforced when Lizzie murdered her sister and tried to kill Judith.

But now with Ezekiel, she has basically become the adoptive mother of Henry and she loved him. He reminded her so much of Sophia and while that hurt at first, it has since become grounds on which for her to love him even more. She’d made herself a new promise the day she found him in the woods, she was going to love him and do everything in her power to protect him. Henry and Ezekiel have become her new start, just like how Paul, and now Astrid, are Daryl’s new start.

Carol shook herself out of her thoughts, staring at Astrid and turned her attention back to the conversation they’d been having before the spit up incident, “She’s beautiful, Daryl.”

“Yeah, she is.”

“And you do understand that the bikers are not your fault, right?”

Daryl sighed, “I told you, it is. I knew them before. Merle used to ride with them, the Hellblazers they call themselves. I should’ve known their leader, Damien, would come up with something like smoke and fire bombs from the tops of our building equipment.”

“You couldn’t have know, Daryl. There were only 25 of them you said and from the sounds of it most of them were pretty bad shots.”

“Or I just got lucky that day.”

“Maybe, but you had no reason to believe they were capable of inflicting so much damage on a community as big as yours.”

Daryl nodded, but Carol knew he wasn’t accepting her argument and putting away the guilt he felt, he was just trying to get her to change the subject. She’d seen him use this same technique after he failed to save Sophia, after Merle was killed, after Beth was murdered right in front of them, and after he got back from the sanctuary. She knew he still harbored so much guilt over the deaths of their various family members. She, and many others, had tried so many times to get him to believe the deaths were no fault of his, but each time he refused to believe them.

Her heart went out to him because she knew it was who he was to carry the burdens of everyone around him without complaining a bit. He was so strong, but everyone had their breaking point. She turned her head back towards the door of the room, praying desperately that they’d receive news of Paul’s condition soon and that it would be good news. She didn’t think Daryl would be able to recover from the loss of Paul. Carol wanted to continue the conversation, but knew now wasn’t the time to push him. Maybe Paul would have more luck with getting him to believe what had happened wasn’t his fault.

“Do Rick and Michonne know about your daughter yet?”

Daryl peeled back up at the change in topic, “No. Was going to send a runner with the news. If Michonne wants to meet her, she’ll have to come to Hilltop. Rick banned me and Paul from Alexandria after we teamed up and killed Negan behind his back.”

“I remember, he sent someone with the news right after it happened. He asked for us to ban you from the Kingdom as well, but Ezekiel refused. I agreed with you, Negan was a threat as long as he was alive. Ezekiel looked at it more with the perspective that Rick making such a huge decision on his own without consulting the other leaders was a violation of power.”

“In what way?”

“It should’ve been a decision made together. All of the communities having a say in the fate of Negan. Rick took that chance from us, it wasn’t his call, yet he made it anyway and Ezekiel refuses to be put under the thumb of anyone ever again, so he refused to follow Rick’s orders and banish you two.”

Daryl nodded in understanding as he calmly played with Astrid using one of the toys the nurse had left for her on the nightstand. It was a small purple ring full of a variety of colorful, rubber animals. When he shook it in front of her face, they made a rattling sound that made her giggle and flail her arms up towards them. It was one of the most pure, innocent sights he’d ever seen.

He and Carol sat there, taking turns holding and playing with Astrid as they waited anxiously for news about Paul. Daryl was glad for the distraction, he probably would’ve gone insane from worry if he didn’t have her to take his mind off it for a bit.

They were immediately alert when the door to the room opened and the doctor, Sara, stepped in. Their old doctor, Dana, had been bitten by Tobin after he was infected with walker blood by the saviors at Hilltop. Sara was fairly new to the community. She’d worked for points at the sanctuary, keeping her medical training under wraps to avoid being used by Negan to heal his staff. She’d hated the man from day one, but because of her husband’s need for insulin she’d been unable to escape. Her husband had died fighting for the saviors in the war, yet she harbors no hostility towards the communities.

“Is he alright?” Daryl asked as soon as she closed the door behind her.

“He’s stable for now, but he’s in critical condition. He’s lost a lot of blood and because of that, I couldn’t risk trying to remove the bullet just yet. We were fortunate enough that after the war I started having everyone who can donate blood so that when things like this happen we have blood ready for them. Dana made sure to keep records of everyone treated here including their blood type. But he’s going to need more, one of my nurses is out asking for volunteers now.”

Daryl felt better know Paul was stable, but didn’t let himself relax completely, “What are his chances of survival?”

“Well, that depends. If I get enough blood, I should be able to go in and remove the bullet as soon as tomorrow. However, the bullet has embedded itself in a very delicate place, just missing his vital organs, but one wrong move during surgery and he could die. I do have surgical experience in that area of the body, which lowers the risk factor exponentially, but they are still there. We also don’t know yet, but he could be bleeding internally. I’ll have to assess his condition after I remove the bullet and decide if it’s worth using the energy to do a CT scan on him.”

Daryl nodded, heart dropping in his chest, “can I see him?”

“Yes, follow me. Carol, you’re welcome to come, too.”

Carol took Astrid from Daryl so he could get up easier. Daryl let Carol keep her as they made their way to Paul’s room. Sara left them at the door and instructed them not to wake him. Daryl slowly entered the room, afraid of the sight he about to see. Daryl felt like throwing up when his eyes landed on Paul. He was connected to a few different machines to monitor his vitals and had an IV attached to his right arm. His face was ghostly pale and thick bandages covered his stomach. They’d changed him out of his bloody clothes and covered him with a blanket wanting to keep his wounds easily accessible should something go wrong.

Carol took the seat at the foot of Paul’s bed, cradling Astrid against her chest as she watched Daryl collapse in the chair next to Paul’s head.

“Oh baby,” Daryl whispered, voice shaking and tears threatening to spill over onto his cheeks.

He looked so small and weak, so different from his normal vibrant, energetic personality. Daryl lifted one of Paul’s hands to his lips and kissing the back of his hand.

“Come back to me... to us. Please don’t leave me alone to raise our daughter, because I don’t think I can do it without you. I love you, Paul. We love you and we both need you,” Daryl kissed Paul’s forehead, “Please come back to us.”

Receiving no response, just like he figured he would, Daryl laid his head down on the bed next to Paul, still grasping Paul’s hand tight in his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and Comments are greatly appreciated! <3


	10. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this update was so late. I’ve been really busy and when I haven’t been running around, I started watching Voltron and Klance has since invaded my life. Seriously, that show is fucking awesome! The writing is amazing, the characterization is damn near flawless and I just can’t get enough of it! Especially Keith, who funnily enough, is voiced by Steven Yeun.
> 
> Anyway, this is the final chapter for this story, enjoy! :)

The next day was long and stressful with Paul’s health constantly swinging between stable and catastrophic like an emotional pendulum. One moment he was fine and the next the nurses were wheeling in a crash cart. The Kingdom’s members had donated enough blood to allow Dr. Sara to perform the surgery on Paul. The surgery had been successful as she’d been able to remove the bullet with relative ease. But it wasn’t the bullet that was causing the problem anymore, it was the poisonous coating on the bullet had.

It wasn’t like when the saviors dipped their arrows in walker blood, but it still scared the hell out of everyone when it was discovered. Sara and her staff are currently pouring over medical books trying to match Paul’s symptoms with the correct poison. The whole time, Daryl remained at Paul’s side. One of the Kingdom’s members brought him food three times a day and the nurses gave him a cot to sleep on at night. Carol had also given him some of Ezekiel’s clothes to wear since his had blood all over them.

The battle hadn’t even been over a full day when the team Ezekiel had sent to Hilltop returned with Maggie in tow. They’d informed her of Paul’s condition and she’d demanded she be taken to see him. “How is he?” was the first sentence out of her mouth when entered the room, her love and care for the scout obvious.

“It varies from moment to moment. Sometimes he’s perfectly fine and then the next he’s coding,” Daryl said, his voice exhausted and worried.

“Where’s Astrid?”

“Carol’s looking after her. I... I just can’t right now. She brings her to see me every day, but I’m in no condition to care for a baby right now. Hell, I’m barely managing to take care of myself.”

Maggie sat down on the cot next to him and pulled Daryl into a tight hug. Daryl turned his face into her neck and let himself find comfort in her warm embrace. They’d sat there in silence for a long time before Daryl spoke, “I’m so sorry.”

Maggie looked confused, “for what?”

“For everything. Underestimating the bikers and abandoning Hilltop during a fight.”

“Hey, this isn’t your fault and if you hadn’t gone when you did, Paul would most likely be dead right now.”

“But...”

“Nope,” she said sternly cutting him off, “This is not on you. Actually, you three leaving is what made it possible for us to end the battle. With all the remaining bikers rushing to get to their bikes to chase after y’all it was like shooting fish in a barrel.”

“You’re saying us leaving was a good thing?”

“Yes. You made the right call. You saved Paul’s life and it also happened to help stop the fighting.”

At that moment, Sara had come in to take Paul into surgery and Maggie had left to meet with Ezekiel over what they were going to do next.

20 of the bikers were out of commission. 13 of them were being held in the makeshift prison that once housed the captive saviors and 7 of them were dead leaving just 5 unaccounted for, Damien included. They’d patched the living bikers up with as many supplies as they could spare and burned the dead. He bikers had injured 25 Hilltop residents and murdered ten. The infirmary was full once again after the flu outbreak which had luckily not taken as many lives as Daryl had feared. Still, they’d lost a lot of good people to these maniacs and Daryl was ready to march back there and kill them all, but he knew that wouldn’t do any good.

They’d decided they didn’t want to go looking for them and risk losing more people. They were just going to implement more safety measures and prioritize rebuilding the walls damaged by the fire bombs. As for what they were going to do with the captured bikers, they didn’t know. They couldn’t just let them go, but right now they don’t have the resources needed to support so many new people that wouldn’t be doing anything for them in return.

Daryl leaned against Paul’s bed as he sifted through his thoughts over the past few days. Guilt, anger, and worry clouding his mind, making it almost impossible for him to relax.

“Just hang in there, Paul. We’re doing everything they can,” Daryl said and kissed his forehead.

The door slid open and an exhausted Sara walked in.

Daryl was instantly on his feet, “Any news?”

“Yes, we’ve managed to narrow down what the poison to two different ones based on his symptoms, but we’re still not entirely sure what it is. The biggest problem is that giving him the meds to combat one of the poisons and it turns out to be the wrong one, the medication could kill him.”

“So what do we do?”

“I... I don’t know. The only difference between them is one will kill him within the next 24 hours and the other will wear off within the same time.”

“So all we can do is wait and see if he starts to get better or worse?” Daryl asked, he was so tired of waiting.

“I’m afraid so. I’m going to prepare the antidote for the poison that will kill him. He shouldn’t need one for the other, but it’ll be good to have some on hand.”

Sara left the room, leaving Daryl alone with his thoughts again. He hated when his family members were like this because he felt so useless. He can’t exactly punch an illness or wound in the face to make it go away. Part of him wanted to get up and go after the surviving bikers right now, but the other part of him knew he shouldn’t. The last time he’d gone off like that he’d been captured by Dwight, again, and taken to Negan’s lineup. Besides, he needed to be here when Paul woke up and Astrid still needed him even if he felt like his world was falling apart.

Paul groaned in his sleep and Daryl took his hand and kissed it, “I love you,” he whispered against his skin.

* * *

“Well, it’s been 12 hours and he hasn’t gotten any better. If anything he’s worse. It’s your call Daryl, do you want us to give him the medicine for the poison or not? We don’t have much more time to wait. The meds will take time to work,” Sara explained.

Daryl looked down at his husband, a title that still felt strange, but good, on his tongue since it was so new. They’d only really been married for a short time and he wasn’t ready to lose it so soon after getting it. Marriage was something he’d never thought he’d get to experience until he met Paul. Between the homophobic environment he was in before the turn and the apparent lack of gay men he liked after the turn, it wasn’t something he’d ever allowed himself to dream or hope for.

“Give it to him,” Daryl said, rubbing his thumb across the back of Paul’s hand.

Sara nodded and went to get the medicine.

“God I hope I’m making the right call here. I haven’t been really good at that in the past. Glenn, Beth, Hershel, Sasha, and so many more people I failed to save. I don’t think I’ll be able to live with myself if I chose wrong and this kills you,” he said to the unconscious scout.

“You remember the day we finally managed to pull our heads out of our asses and see we both felt the same for each other? It took Maggie sending us out on a week long run and you almost dying to get us to acknowledge it.”

* * *

_It was supposed to be a routine run for supplies for the upcoming picnic with the other communities at Hilltop. Maggie was hoping they’d be able to find a pool of some kind. It was the middle of summer and extremely hot out and a pool sounded like heaven right now. If they could, she’d send people out to collect water from the lake to fill it. The water wasn’t drinkable, but it was a local beach before so she figured it was still safe to swim in. It had been fenced off so no walkers had gotten into it, which was great._

_But once they’d reached the swim store, everything went to hell real fast. They’d knocked on the windows and managed to take out at least 15 walkers, but there had been more at the very back of the store. It looked like a group had holed up in the store, maybe to wait out a herd, and just never left. The fenced off fire pit area was a good indication of that. There had been a few decaying corpses at the front of the store, but it had seemed fine._

_The farther back they went into the store, the worse the bad feeling in the pit of Daryl’s stomach grew. It wasn’t until they’d located the ideal above ground pool set and started trying to get it back to the truck that they heard it. A gate in the back of the store has given and the groans of the dead flooded their ears. They both grabbed one side of the pool and started hauling ass out of the store. It looked like they were going to make it when a walker rounded the corner and made a grab at Paul._

_He jumped back suddenly and dropped the pool to grab his knife. He stabbed the walker in the head and threw it on the ground, but more kept pouring around the corner. Daryl dropped his side of the pool too and quickly shot one of them in the head to allow Paul to escape. The walkers drove them back into the store as Daryl did his best to take a few of them out as they ran. Sprinting past where they’d found the pool, they ran into another dead end as more walkers cut off their escape route effectively trapping them between the two groups._

_Daryl dropped his bow and pulled out his knife as they both got ready to fight their way out of this, both ready to die for the other. Then it was a blur of groaning, stabbing, and blood as they fought for their lives. They’d started out standing back to back, but the rush to kill the walkers before they got bit separated them a bit allowing a few walkers in between them. It was like the world had slammed into slow motion when Daryl saw Paul go down. His thrashing against the mess of dead grew in intensity as he fought his way over to him, this was not how he was going to lose him._

_“PAUL!” Daryl yelled, slamming his knife into the back of the last walker’s heads._

_He stumbled over to where he could see Paul’s arm sticking out from under the shelf. Smart fucker had crawled underneath the ledge to shield himself. He collapsed on the ground and pulled Paul out from under the shelf and immediately started checking him for bites and scratches ignoring Paul’s protests that he was fine. Only when he was sure Paul hadn’t been bit did he gather the scout into his arms and hug him tight against his chest._

_“I thought I’d lost you,” Daryl whispered, blinking back tears._

_“Hey, it’s okay. I made it, I’m safe,” Paul assured him, hugging the hunter back and pushing his shock at the aloof man pulling him into a hug aside._

_Daryl pulled back roughly to look into Paul’s eyes, “Don’t ever scare me like that again. I can’t lose you Paul. You mean too much to me.”_

_Paul nodded and smiled softly at the man, “I’ll do my best. You mean a lot to me, too.”_

_What Paul didn’t expect was for Daryl to pull him closer and kiss him. It was a brief pressing of lips, but it felt amazing. He’d been wanting to do that since they’d met on the road, but he hadn’t been sure how Daryl would react. After all, the guy didn’t exactly scream “gay.” From his observations, Paul thought Daryl was closer to asexual than anything else._

_Paul could see the shock and fear etched into Daryl’s face at what he’d just done. He man looked ready to bolt, so Paul grabbed him and hauled him into another kiss. This one lasted longer, but felt even better as they both moved their lips against the other’s._

_When they finally broke for air, Paul said, “Now how about we finish loading up that pool?”_

_Daryl smiled and kissed him again before hauling the scout onto his feet and heading towards where they’d dropped the pool, both of them smiling and blushing like idiots._

* * *

The nurse came in and gave Paul the medicine instructing Daryl to come find one of them immediately if Paul’s condition changes. It has been over an hour since the meds were given to him and his condition still hadn’t changed. Carol came in with Astrid, her pour face wet from crying, “she won’t eat, figured you might be able to get her to. After all, you are her daddy.”

Daryl smiled and took his daughter from her, carefully cradling her in his arms. The child immediately quieted and let Daryl feed her. He ushered Carol out of the room, “I can look after her for a bit, this waiting is going to kill me.”

Daryl played calmly with Astrid as he waited for Paul to wake up, his daughter being a welcome distraction to the eternal silence around him. He blew raspberries on her tummy and laughed with her when she squealed and giggled at the feeling. He was walking around the room, his finger tightly grasped in her hand when he heard it, a soft groan coming from the bed.

Instantly his attention shifted to Paul as he watched him groan and shift a bit on the bed. His heart soared at the sight and he quickly made his way over to Paul’s bedside. He waited patiently for Paul to open his eyes and focus on him, “welcome back, babe.”

“Hey,” Paul croaked, his throat is really dry.

“I’m so glad you’re up. Hang on, let me get the nurse.”

Paul smiled weakly as Daryl opened the door and called for a nurse and one of them of the came rushing in to see how he was doing. She checked his vitals while Daryl got him a water bottle from down the hall and helped prop him up on a few pillows.

“It looks like you are going to be making a full recovery. Just make sure to get lots of rest and drink lots of water.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The nurse left and Daryl practically collapsed with relief, Astrid still nestled safely in his arms, “Don’t you dare ever scare me like that again, understand?”

“Got it. No more near death experiences,” Paul joked.

Daryl shot him a annoyed glare as Astrid squirmed in his arms, “I think she wants you.”

“Aww! Give her here then,” Paul said reaching out for his daughter.

The babe giggled and cooed in Paul’s arms as he rocked her back and forth, “Hi, Astrid,” he whispered, kissing her forehead.

Daryl smiled as he watched his husband play and coo at their daughter. It was a sight he’d never grow tired of seeing, that he was certain of.

“Hey, Paul?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too babe.”

Daryl leaned across the bed and kissed him. Astrid giggled, Paul smiled, and Daryl was happy as he hugged them both against his chest. Family, something he’d never thought was in the cards for him, was now a reality and he’d be damned if anything ever happened to them. Fuck Damien and his crew, his family means the world to him and no second rate asshole was going to take it from him. For now though, they are all safe and that is enough just for this moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated! <3


End file.
